That a team of experts has been dispatched to collect views from Kenyans on the best model for a political confederation in East Africa is a pointer that the regional bloc is making critical progress in its growth and development. It is, therefore, important that the experts, who include former Kenya Attorney-General Amos Wako get the formula right from the onset.

There is a great deal that the experts can learn from the European Union, for instance, if they are to succeed in crafting a model that will gain wide acceptance across the ever-expanding East African Community.

Critical among these is how to make a regional government work seamlessly, making all the citizens of member countries feel that they all belong and putting in place mechanisms for rotational sharing of various offices, especially the sensitive ones like heads of key institutions, such as Parliament and, if it is created, the commission itself.

Without a doubt, much of the world is heading towards greater regional integration as evidenced by the moves being made by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa under the BRIC umbrella.

That means countries do not necessarily need to share a border to form associations and blocs. What they need, more than anything else, is a synergy of ideas and a belief in a common destiny for their peoples, especially to create opportunity for free movement, security, integration and economic prosperity.

 Indeed, as Noah Hariri has noted in his treatises, the idea of the nation has evolved dramatically from the days of the tribe and nation-state. The future is more about shared prosperity and political leadership that guarantees basic freedoms, especially security and belonging.

And whereas the idea of an economic community has continued to serve East Africa well, it needs to expand its scope and mandate to include a political federation that will guarantee member stability.

This will address such issues as the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and terrorism in Somalia, which require collaborative effort to confront. However, it is also important for such a political federation to define its relationship with organisations such as the African Union and United Nations to delineate the powers and responsibilities of each.