THE promise of a better tomorrow exists for each East African. EA Federation is taking off at a convincing speed, making one quick step after the other towards the direction of the full-fledged EA Union. The Customs Union, Regional Free Trade Treaty are just early steps to eventually pave way for the long awaited political federation that seems to hold the promise to most of us in the region.
Also supporting this move is Dr S. Covey’s theory that says “Interdependency is a greater value than independence”. That means, coming together makes us greater and stronger than staying independent. The theory of Synergy, which says that the whole is better than the sum of the individual parts, further supports this view.
The excitement already shown by our leaders contributes to making things move swiftly. Most East Africans, however, are either completely ignorant of the subsequent benefits of the union or are devoid of interest in the whole thing.
I am also afraid that we are putting too much trust to the politicians on the decisions of the nature and formation of this union. It’s a great risk we are taking. We, instead, need to involve as many professionals and as fewer politicians as possible because this union touches almost on every part of our lives as individuals and as nations.  
Tanzanians have been warned against pessimism on this process. We have been encouraged to remain positive. But how! How can we pretend to be blind to so many threats around us? I would, therefore, inevitably caution us not to be too excited. Let’s also not bank in the notion that we can simply apply emergency brakes at any time no matter how unstoppable our “vehicle” may be.
Covey says in the same book, 7 Habits of the Highly Effective People, that “Private victory precedes public victory”. His point is clear that before we anticipate victory in public we must first deal with our private shortcomings, which I see would be a great problem as is the case in question here.
To that end, our first step would be to examine our shortcomings, which may, in the future interfere with the marriage we have vowed to enter. One area which I think Tanzanians should have been very keen before moving forward into integrating with other nations is economy, specifically the small business policies that are any nation’s economic drive.
Unfortunately in Tanzania the policies are not very favourable. Consequently, unemployment rates are going higher steadily. As a result Tanzanians are very anxious of what their fate will be.
Our law enforcement system is still very incompetent, operating with many irregularities and with old mechanisms. As we allow free movements from North to South and elsewhere, let’s not be surprised to record higher numbers of crimes. Are we prepared to deal with it? 
Another very delicate and sensitive topic that most of us would rather not touch is our old dramatic union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. These nations were fully united back in the 1960s. Recently the “commando” forced changes, one after the other, and as of now two presidents represent Tanzania in the EA agreements.
Is Tanzania a united political federation separated by two presidents or two nations separated by the same name? I believe this is something we needed to sort out before encouraging others to join our union.
While this move is so far indisputable by any development loving individual, we must be well convinced that this is going to be a win-win marriage. The only reason for which we should agree to enter into this union would be that each individual state will benefit from it. We should not be taken by excitement to the extent of oversight of important criteria for coming together.
Individual nations should first deal with major issues to assure synchronization after the integration. Otherwise putting together nations with political, social, and economic problems is a fine recipe for great disaster at later days. This is like putting four tires of different sizes on a car and expecting better performance