The Blog has clustered the countries on a regional basis to drill down on the key attributes of the various nations making up the region isolating some of the key ingredients that were previously used by former colonizers to segregate the people of Africa such as Ethnicity, Language, Religion and Currencies. We will then use these same elements to see where these attributes can be used to reverse the divisive policies and turning them into reasons to unite.
We will see how certain parts of the continent have already launched initiatives to integrate regionally, with the East African Community (EAC) being a prime example which has already initiated plans to implement a single currency in the region the ‘East African Shilling’ replacing the six individual country currencies. This would enable easier regional trade or movement of goods. In addition to this the community is looking to have a single passport for regional citizens, enabling free movement of people within the community visa free. These are all key ingredients to promote sustainable regional integration and growth within the region.
East Africa comprises 15 territories and is the second most populous region of Africa with a total population of approximately 293,2 million people as illustrated in the table below:
The table above illustrates how the EAC appears to be a shining lite on the continent for implementing regional integration. First of all most of what these countries have in common includes speaking the same two main languages (English and Swahili), having the same religion (predominantly Christians). We use these examples to illustrate that if there is clear leadership and intention to work together and if citizens focus more on what brings us together, there is a path to unity and cooperation.
Developing value chains at a regional level will enable the necessary granularity to drive Africa’s development from the ground up. Another EAC initiative has been to eliminate cellphone roaming charges within the region, which has had the dramatic effect of driving information and data exchange, with communication being key to drive collaboration.
Even though citizens residing in ‘the Horn of Africa’, illustrated in diagram below appear to have more attributes that make them different from each other and with those in the EAC, there is also a case for further integration among these East African regions. The location of ‘the Horn’ lends itself for driving international exports to other markets and with the development of infrastructure of ports and rail in the region, goods for export can pass through ’the Horn’ to international markets in the Middle East and South East Asia.
The Horn is home to Ethiopia, one of only two countries in Africa that were never colonized. Why Ethiopia was never colonized despite a few attempts by Italy is explained on the video on this link.
East Africa notable for having a large number of technology leaders and innovative start-ups
- Made in Kenya
- Exported to the rest of the world
- Launched in India (2011) in partnership with ICICI bank
- Expanded to Romania (2014) and Albania (2015)
East Africa is winning in the growth stakes as a result of all the great work that they are doing together as a region and consequently the region is home to 3 of Africa’s fastest growing economies in terms of GDP- Rwanda 8.7%, Ethiopia 7.4% and Tanzania 6.8%, with the entire region growing at 5%. The rest of the continent will do well to emulate the model being implemented there at a regional level.
