Nairobi — One people, one media law. That might sound like a farfetched idea in a region where information flows are still confined to national boundaries while member countries still embrace divergent media policies.

But come next year, the story could be different. This follows a pledge by the East African Community Secretariat to create a forum where information ministers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi will discuss ways of harmonising media laws in line with the integration process.

According to the EAC Secretary-General Juma Mwapachu, information ministers from the region will, for the first time, attend the East African Media Summit next year, during which they will engage media and policymakers in discussions on how to make laws that enable the media to foster regional integration.

At the 3rd East African Media Summit held in Kampala recently, Uganda's Information and National Guidance Minister, Kabakumba Masiko, raised concern that information ministries, the key drafters of media laws in the region, still did not have a forum to discuss their role in the EAC integration process.

Inaugurated in 2007, the Summit is an annual event that brings together media owners and journalists from East Africa's leading media houses to discuss the media landscape in the region and how the media can play a "proactive role" in regional integration.

It is usually attended by media owners, editors and journalists drawn from all the five EAC partner states of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.But Ms Masiko said that despite the ongoing integration, information flow among EAC partner states was still confined to national boundaries.

"The East African Community is undergoing a critical cycle of regional integration where various divergent policies are being harmonised to create a predictable policy environment. However, EAC partner states still have divergent policies on the media and information flow," Ms Masiko said.

The EAC is expected to usher in the Common Market in January next year after the five heads of state sign the Protocol in November. The Common Market, the second stage in the EAC integration process, focuses on trade in services and will, among other things, enable free movement of labour/persons as well as allow East African citizens to live in any member state.

The Customs Union, the first stage in the integration process, was launched in January 2005 and is expected to be fully-fledged by January next year.

Under the Customs Union, goods from one member state -- except those from Kenya which still attract duties on a reducing basis until January next year -- are zero-rated.

Despite such gains, the media in the region still seems left behind on the regional integration front. And according to Ms Masiko, the need for a forum where the region's ministries of information and those of East African Community affairs meet to share views on their role in the integration process is long overdue.

Such a forum, she said, would play a crucial role in harmonising media laws and strengthening the media environment in the region. It would also ensure free movement of journalists across the region -- just like any other form of labour.

"This will allow exchange of ideas and sharing experiences in a way that further enhances regional integration," she said, suggesting the formation of an East African Press Association where journalists and governments meet to share information.

Ms Masiko added: "We have different regimes of laws in the region; as we integrate, we need to look at these laws afresh and harmonise them."

Mr Mwapachu said that failure to involve information ministers in the East African Media Summit since its inauguration three years ago was "an oversight" on the part of EAC.

"It is a good idea and we are going to bring them on board in next year's Summit," he said.

According to Reginald Mengi, the outgoing chairman of the East African Business Council, the region needs more cross-border media ownership. This, he says, will speed up the integration process by meeting the increasing need to create more awareness about the economic, political and social developments in EAC's partner states.

Mr Mengi, who is also the executive chairman of the Tanzania-based IPP Media Group, says that the media in East Africa had helped accelerate the integration process by disseminating information on trade and investment opportunities available in the region.

"They have done so by informing businesses in the region and the world at large about the economic opportunities existing in the region and by writing the correct story of the region to reverse negative perceptions created by biased foreign media about East Africa," he said.

And while commending the current cross-border media for playing a key role in uniting East Africans, Mr Mengi said: "I urge more cross-media investment as a tool for stronger unification for the people of East Africa."

So far, the Kenya-based Nation Media Group is the leading media organisation that has invested in the media in all the three founding EAC partner states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

On the other hand, Eriya Kategaya, Uganda's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, said the EAC's efforts to engage the media were already bearing fruits. He singled out the huge coverage of the 2nd East Africa Investment Conference in Nairobi a month ago by the media in Kenya.

He commended The EastAfrican for its "regular in-depth coverage" of EAC affairs. Particularly pleasing to him, Mr Kategaya said, was the paper's recently introduced column, "The Integration Tracker" (Page 2), which reviews the ups-and-downs of the EAC integration process on a weekly basis.

But while asking media houses in the region to retain journalists who specialise in the EAC integration agenda, Mr Kategaya challenged the Community's Secretariat to "make the EAC story compelling and appealing" for the media.

"We believe that more needs to be done to give greater focus on building a strong, united East Africa," Mr Kategaya said.

"The media has a sterling role to get the region to embrace regional integration with passion, dedication and commitment for the benefit of the present and future generations of East Africans."