Arusha — Fast-tracking of the East African Political Federation will be further delayed to await detailed studies by experts.

These would advise the five partner states on the best ways the envisaged political union would be undertaken.

The decision was announced here yesterday at the end of the 11th East African Community (EAC) heads of state summit.

The summit, held at the climax of EAC's tenth anniversary celebrations, was attended by all the five heads of states: Presidents Jakaya Kikwete, Yoweri Museveni, Mwai Kibaki, Pierre Nkurunziza and Paul Kagame of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda respectively. Also in attendance was President Amani Abeid Karume of Zanzibar.

Reading a resolution by the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), the EAC secretary general, Mr Juma Mwapachu, said a team of experts would be picked to undertake detailed studies on the matter.

However, he neither said when the team would be appointed nor revealed its composition. He only said that the proposed political union may take a longer time to be realised.

He said the people of East Africa should be adequately sensitised on the political federation to allay fears that the existing states would lose their sovereignty.

"Our heads of state have received the report on the way forward for East African Political Federation and have directed that the sensitisation programmes be intensified," he said.

The team of experts would develop terms of reference (ToR) and work out ways to expedite the political federation that would bring EAC member states much closer.

He said while waiting for the anticipated political union, the partner states should strengthen the existing pillars of EA unity: the Customs Union and the Common Market.

Last week scholars who met here as part of EAC's 10th anniversary celebrations that reached its climax yesterday cautioned on the proposed political federation, suggesting a slow approach.

Academicians and political leaders from the region suggested instead that people need to be convinced on the benefits of the political union.

It was argued that some member countries of the regional bloc favoured a slow approach to political integration rather than one unitary state overnight.

The East African Federation was first proposed in the early 1960s soon after the founder members of EAC, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, became independent.

The idea was revived during a special summit of the heads of state held in Nairobi in August 2004 as a way of speeding up the regional integration.

President Museveni and retired presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Daniel arap Moi of Tanzania and Kenya respectively picked a team led by the Kenya attorney general to examine ways to expedite the process.

The team sought views of people from around the region from September to November the same year. It proposed fast-tracking the political federation which would ultimately enable EA have one state.

The report, released during the EAC heads of state summit on November 30, 2004, proposed fast-tracking the EA Federation "for accelerated economic development to enable EA move faster to a developed region in the shortest possible time."

However, consultations later carried out in the three countries found out that some people in the region preferred a slow political integration than fast-tracking the political federation.

Collected data indicated that 88 per cent of Ugandans supported EA integration compared to 86 per cent in Kenya and 66 per cent in Tanzania.