Charles Onyango-Obbo
26 June 2007
opinion
Nairobi — A source in the Kenya committee on Fast Tracking East African Political Federation says there is a "small" matter that kept coming up during their consultations and will probably make its way into the final reports.
At several hearings of the committee, Kenyan women said they were "very concerned" that, when the East African countries become fully integrated, "Ugandan women will take away all our men."
At a meeting with some members of the Fast Tracking Committee at State House, after the "serious" discussions were done, someone told President Mwai Kibaki: "Kenyans seem to have one main problem with political federation. Our women are saying that they are afraid Ugandan women will come here and take away all the men."
Kibaki was amused, and after a good laugh said; "Let there be competition, and may the best East African women win."
This writer was told this story ahead of last week's summit in Kampala where Burundi and Rwanda were formally admitted into the EAC. It prompted one of the people in our company to remark:
"If Kenyan women are afraid of Ugandan women, what will they do when they see the Rwandans?"
This issue may seem flimsy, yet it's fascinating in its way. Unlike the fears one hears of losing jobs or other East Africans coming to take away land in the more fertile EAC countries, the question of neighbouring women coming in to grab your men is a truly people's issue. It suggests the discussion about East Africa has gone seriously local, which is wonderful.
Your columnist, however, senses that when Kenyan women speak of the threat of their Ugandan sisters, they aren't actually talking about the future vagaries of the regional relationship and courtship markets. Rather, it's a metaphor for how we shall manage the space that will be opened by integration.
Many people usually marry the boy or girl next door, because familiarity or a shared cultural background gives them a lot of comfort.
BUT MARRYING IN YOUR VILLAGE can also be ordinary and boring, hence the allure of the girl or boy from beyond the next hill. It promises an exotic experience, something new. But it also brings a lot of uncertainties.
And this is the basic tension around East African integration. The resistance to it can be partly explained by the fear of giving up our national certainties, for the greater but untested promise of regional nirvana.
Consider for example that once East Africa is fully integrated, a young man looking for a bride will no longer have the possible choice of one million in his country. He will have five million nice East African girls to take out to dinner and present with flowers.
By the same token, there could be similar competition for jobs. The pool that employers can hire from will grow by the same margin. And, as Kibaki said, it will not just be the best East African women winning hearts but the best East African engineers, lawyers and doctors triumphing in the market.
THERE ARE ALSO SERIOUS POLICY implications in the concerns of the Kenyan women. If any East African can now freely marry another, then it follows that they should also be able to settle anywhere in the region and be full citizens.
East Africa will therefore have to adopt uniform laws on citizenship. Marriage, for example, will have to confer automatic citizenship on both men and women.
Then there is the nature of the new family structures and the impact on national cultures that a flexible and robust cross-border marriage boom will bring about.
If you asked your columnist, he would say that in trying to zone off their men, the Kenyan women have proved that they are the first people in the region who have fully grasped what the EAC is really about.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for convergence and new products.
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