According to an old English adage, ‘once bitten twice shy.’ This is the position most Tanzanians find themselves in relation to the proposed East African federation.
In fact, many Tanzanians blame the collapse of the defunct EAC in 1977 to what they perceive as marginalisation of their country against Kenya and Uganda whereby Tanzania was reduced to a market for consumables made in the other two partner states, thus pushing Tanzania to the receiving end.
That is why this time around, Tanzania is jittery of the proposed regional integration, especially when it comes to removal of trade barriers at borders, land ownership and free movement of labour, all considered as major benefits of regional integration.
According to the EAC commissioned survey which was confined to the original EAC founder member states, respondents in Tanzania trailed behind those in Kenya and Uganda on the expected benefits of regional integration.
Interestingly, at one point 48 per cent of Tanzanians were categorical that they were not aware of any benefit which their country stands to gain by being a member of the regional bloc now comprising of five states.
That said, Tanzania’s opposition against regional integration could be tressed back to one point. Lack of preparedness on existing economic opportunities within the envisaged bigger regional market.
Indeed, at the moment, Tanzania still lags behind Kenya and Uganda in terms of education, infrastructure development and other comparative advantages, but this is bound to change soon considering a big numbers of universities being opened and huge infrastructural investments being undertaken bt the Government in all sectors including rail network, ports and power generation to attract investments.
Therefore Tanzania needs to work a bit harder to catch up with the rest of the pack to be able to draw benefits from integration.
It makes no sense to fear competition in this era of global village, but to strive hard to catch up with those you compete with.
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