On 18. May 2012 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Tansania and the KAS Rule of Law Programme organised an event on constitutional reform processes and integration in EA. In cooperation with the German-Tanzanian Centre for Postgraduate Studies in Law (TGCL), experts from the East African region had been invited to discuss the question whether the commitment towards East African integration is reflected in the respective national constitutions. The conference also discussed, what has to be done to make national constitutions and the EAC treaty complement each other.
The well attended event at the Nkrumah Hall of the UDSM was officially opened by the German Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E. Klaus-Peter Brandes. The key note speech on “National Constitutions in the Light of the East African Community Treaty” was held by James Ogoola, Justice at the EACJ.
The first panel on “National Experiences” consisted of two presentations. Prof. Dr. Patrick Lock Otieno Lumumba from the University of Nairobi focussed on the Kenyan perspective. He gave a very detailed summary of the development of the Kenian Constitution and outlined the troublesome way to the new Constitution, inaugurated in 2012. Prof. Dr. Palamagamba J. Kabudi, from the School of Law of the University of Dar es Salaam discussed the current Tanzanian constitutional reform process in the context of the East African integration process.
The second panel on "The East-African Perspective" was covered by a presentation hold by Mr. Benson Tusasirwe, Representative of Kituo cha Katiba Uganda. He gave a critical overview on the constitutional developments in the East African Region and their outcomes. He outlined the problems which have been hindering constitutionlism in Africa for decades and still do so. The key factor for change, so Tusasirwe, lay in the mobilisation of the people which had to be "adequately equipped through education, formal and informal, to take charge of their destiny by holding to account those who happen to hold positions of power".