Abstract
While addressing the subject of leadership, constitutional changes, and functions of governments in East Africa, this chapter answers the following question. “How does changing the constitution of a state affect leadership and functions of a government?” This question is addressed while focusing on leadership in East Africa and examining how changes made in the constitutions affect the functions of a government. Using evidence drawn from the literature that accounts for the past and present political occurrences in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the chapter maintains that the differences that are striking in these three countries have to do with pull and push eminent in the constitutional politics in Kenya, the militaristic style in Uganda and the modest approach of leadership in Tanzania. The three countries were under British colonial rule and gained independence over the same period in 1961, 1962, and 1963 in the order of Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, respectively. The three nations are the founding members of the East Africa Community (EAC) formed first in 1967, then rejuvenated in 2001 upon the collapse of the first EAC in 1977. The EAC, which is a Regional Economic Community (REC) in Africa, is premised on what integration scholars Karl Deutsch (1954) and Ernst Hass (1961) refer to as a regional integration scheme—a community that aspires to facilitate joint solutions to problems experienced by East Africa states and their people by working toward their stability, prosperity, identity, and other multipurpose goals.
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Notes
- 1.
The BBI was an initiative that grew out of handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 2018 after tense and hostile relations out of the bitter election competition in 2017 that consequently led to stalemates in the Kenyan nation. It will be remembered that the Kenyan Supreme Court nullified Uhuru victory following allegations that the elections were not conducted in a free and fair manner. The opposition had filed a case in the court challenging Uhuru and Jubilee party that the victory was erroneous, and the opposition won the case. But the opposition party NASA coalition, led by Raila Odinga boycotted the repeat election on account that IEBC preparedness for the process of election was not transparent and favored the incumbent. In healing the nation, the ten-point agenda in BBI was meant to build national cohesion embedded on political goodwill created by the two most influential leaders in Kenya at the time. This would culminate in changing the constitution with a view to accommodate a new system of government—the parliamentary system from the presidential system.
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Katete, G. (2023). Leadership, Constitutional Changes, and Functions of Governments in East Africa. In: Abidde, S.O., Kumah-Abiwu, F. (eds) The Political Impact of African Military Leaders. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31427-8_5
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