The President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday 8 arrived in Uganda for a three day state visit. He visited the Quality Chemical Industries, was hosted to a State Dinner by President Museveni and on Monday 10thaddressed the Parliament of Uganda.
At all these occasions President Kenyatta has been keen to emphasize the issue of regional cooperation for the purpose of economic integration. “We are safer and stronger when together, the boundaries that separate us were not created by us,” he is quoted in his statements at one of the events.
Kenyatta’s advice is critical for development and it would be good if the other East African leaders take it up with zeal in order to realize economic benefits for citizens in the region.
Indeed, the leaders should preach messages of unity amongst people in the member countries and in the process ensure shared prosperity through the EAC.
Economic projects like the standard gauge railway (SGR) will lead to the modernization of the railway, easily linking Kenya to Uganda and Rwanda and in effect reduce traffic on our roads.
Further, the SGR will also go a long way in enabling Uganda and Rwanda, which are landlocked countries, to easily export and import goods compared to the past.
Indeed, the SGR should be given the utmost priority and measures should be put in place to ensure such projects are not mishandled and are completed in time.
Also, curbing corruption should be high on the agenda since corruption retards economic development and prosperity; corruption concentrates public money in the hands of a few people!
It is also important that members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) ensure that the community is strengthened.
The EALA legislators should make laws that help uplift the EAC and make sure that any such laws are implemented rather than introduced.
The issue of regional security must also be given critical attention because without security neighbors cannot interact.
And where differences may occur, measures should be put in place to quickly resolve any matter of contention amicably as this would go a long way in ensuring peace and security in the region.
That way president Kenyatta’s counsel on economic development in the EAC region won’t be in vain.
