The following write-up is Part 1 of a Part 4 Weekly Series:
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There have been five distinct stages of EA integration since the commencement of the building of the Uganda Railway towards the end of 1890s. The most recent phase began in the early 1990s when Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda decided to revive the EAC which had collapsed in the mid-1970s. In 1999, the Treaty of the EAC was signed and by the beginning of the new millennium, several EAC institutions were up and running. The community was subsequently expanded in 2007 with the addition of Burundi and Rwanda; and in 2016, the Republic of South Sudan joined as the newest member. The EAC is built on the twin pillars of economic and political integration.
Before the current Covid19 pandemic struck, the EAC had established a Customs Union in 2005, Common Market in 2010 and a Monetary Union agreement was concluded in 2013. In February 2018, the Council of Ministers adopted the political confederation model as a transitional arrangement towards the establishment of a political federation. Subsequently, a committee of experts was set up to draw the political confederation constitution.