Former East Africa Community (EAC) secretary general Amanya Mushega has told outgoing and incoming members of the regional parliament East Africa Legislative Assembly (Eala) that the community could still crumble.

Mushega, who was the secretry general between 2001 and 2006, spoke at the farewell party of outgoing legislators that happened in Arusha Tanzania, the EAC headquarters.

“History has a habit of repeating itself… never say never… it (EAC) can break up again, it can actually happen.”

Formed in 1967 to promote economic and political integration of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, the EAC collapsed in 1977 due to economic and political differences.

Mushenga has now urged the member states to own up to their mistakes and iron out their differences such as those with the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) modalities.

“It is those who do not learn from their history that blame history (which can’t answer).”

Since its revival in 2000, the EAC has developed some cracks that threatened its existence: from the Burundi-Tanzania relations on citizenship to the SGR disagreements between Kenya and Uganda, and the censure of Uganda’s Margret Zziwa as Eala speaker.

Dan Kidega, Nantogo’s successor, described the censure of Nantogo in 2014, as “painful” but reiterated that Uganda was committed to regional integration.