ARTICLE: "EAST AFRICA RISING 6.0 -- Vignette #1 -- *Let the Doors Open Wide!"
📌#EAST AFRICA RISING 6.0 -- Vignette #1 -- Let the Doors Open Wide! Compared to the ECOWAS sub-region, East Africa's foray into economic integration commenced in 1967 -- almost a good decade before ECOWAS was established in 1975. By the time the first EAC collapsed in 1977, ECOWAS was a mere institutional baby. By the time EAC was re-established in 1999, ECOWAS had gone through numerous strides in those 22 years. This included ending the Sierra Leone/Liberian civil wars that dogged Ecowas from 1990-1997, but catapulted the regional institution into superstar status with an indigenous West African force under ECOMOG that single-handedly took out Charles Taylor. ECOWAS had also revised its Treaty in 1993, conferring supranationality onto the West African regional institution, including an article 70 that ensured ECOWAS would enjoy predictable internally-generated funding with an ECOWAS levy. Today, ECOWAS continues to enjoy predictable regional funding. Regrettably, even after 19