A recent news article in the East African showed that trade between the three main East African Community (EAC) countries has not shown the growth that was anticipated four years after the signing of the East African Community Customs Union Protocol. The business community has blamed slow integration of cross-border controls and specifications, overlapping and conflicting regulations, and a general lack of high level inter-governmental coordination that would result in the true benefits of the Custom Union. All Unions have teething problems, some such as the EU took decades to reach consensus. Do we have that luxury in East Africa? Can we afford to wait?
