A New study on the impact of used clothes and shoes in East Africa recommends that women in trade must be given special attention to ensure that they are not marginalised. The study, published as part of a project to promote agriculture, climate and trade linkages in the East African Community (EAC), is the work of CUTS International, Geneva, non-profit organisation. It recommends that the women in trade in the cotton, apparel, textile and leather industries would have to be given particular attention, especially because the business playing field when developing industry is not even, to ensure that they are not marginalised. Shedding light on a gender perspective, the study indicates that used clothes trade is a relatively sensitive sector because it is an area that has all sorts of players; from the educated and elite to people with little or no education, people from the grass-roots, persons with disabilities, widows, foreigners and in the majority of cases, women. The study says that among the largest import sources for used clothes in Rwanda are Denmark and China, with imports valued at $5.2 million in 2015. This is followed by United Arab Emirates with a $3.4 million, Belgium, US and India. Rwanda is proceeding with the planned phase-out of importation of used clothes despite threats that it could lead to a review of eligibility to access duty-free access to the US market. Phaseout of used clothes The EAC has moved to phase out the importation of used clothes and shoes across...

Business leaders attending the 2nd East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition that is taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, are devising ways to promote entrepreneurship and attract more foreign and local investments in the region. Over 300 high-level government and private sector decision-makers from the EAC Partner States as well as business leaders, East African Diaspora and investors from across the region and abroad are attending the conference. The event, taking place from November 14-16, 2017 and was co-organised by East African Business Council (EABC), Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), and the East African Community (EAC). The EABC says the total value of intra-EAC investment increased by 6.9 per cent to US$254.1 million in 2016 from US$237.8 million in 2015. In 2015, the total value of intra-EAC investment increased by 14.5 per cent from US$ 207.7 million in 2014, the organisation said in a press release issued on Tuesday. Dennis Karera, the Managing Director of Kigali Heights, an office block in Kigali whose construction was funded by a Kenya-based company called Fusion Capital, lauded efforts by East African companies to invest in the region. “It is remarkable to see Kenya investing in other EAC countries,” Karera said at the meeting. It is expected that the conference will offer regional business leaders an opportunity to critically discuss how to encourage entrepreneurship and attract more foreign and local investments into the region. Participants will also learn about the latest developments in the region and influence...

EAST African Community (EAC) states are aspiring for a single EAC currency by 2024. Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are determined to merge their respective shillings with Rwanda and Burundian Francs to form the single legal tender for the bloc in the next seven years. South Sudan will also lose its relatively valuable pound, melting Juba’s currency into the envisaged EA currency. Latest reports on the process for the proposed Monetary Union (MU) for the six EAC member states indicate that the envisaged MU is expected in 2024, with introduction of the common currency to replace the national currencies as well as establishment of the regional central bank, East Africa Central Bank (EACB). “Transition to the EA Monetary Union (EAMU) is as a two-phase process, with the initial convergence phase enabling partners to work towards achieving preconditions designed to limit the union’s exposure to internal economic strains,” said EAC Principal Communication Officer Simon Owaka. He revealed the preconditions as macroeconomic convergence criteria, full implementation of the Common Market protocol, establishment of institutions to support the MU and harmonisation of policies and practices. “Once these preconditions are satisfied, partners will enter the final conversion phase, announcing a predetermined date for the union formation.” According to the EAMU protocol, the EAC members have agreed on four primary convergence criteria, which all partner states have to attain and maintain for at least three years before joining the MU. The criteria are headline inflation of eight per cent ceiling, reserve cover of 4.5 months of...

Mutukula, November 9th, 2017:  H.E. John Pombe Magufuli, President of the United Republic of Tanzania and H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of the Republic of Uganda joined by Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, East African Community Secretary General, officially launched Mutukula One Stop Border Post (OSBP) located on the Uganda/Tanzania border, today. Construction of the Mutukula OSBP was carried out with funding of US$11.7million from the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development (DFID) while the systems and other related soft infrastructure equivalent to US$1.2million was funded by the Government of Canada, through Global Affairs, Canada. The OSBP investment includes office buildings, roads and parking yards, cargo verification bays, scanner shed, passenger sheds, targeting booths, warehouse and canopies, ICT networks and hardware, furniture, and institutional support to the border agencies. The OSBP ensures effective border control mechanisms are in place. It will boost trade by cutting the time taken to clear goods between the two nations, thus contributing to a reduction in transport cost, whilst increasing volumes of transhipment cargo through the Central Corridor. It is expected that time to cross the border will reduce by at least a third. An OSBP is a “one stop” form of border crossing point jointly managed by adjoining Partner States, where multiple border agencies cooperate and collaborate with each other, and effectively coordinate their activities to maximise their operational efficiency. OSBP arrangement brings together under one roof, all the Government agencies performing border crossing controls procedures, doing away with need for motorised traffic and...

Hoima — President Museveni has asked people in the oil-rich Bunyoro region to tap into the benefits accruing from the oil and gas industry. The President was on Saturday addressing a rally in Kabaale parish, Buseruka sub county in Hoima district during the launch of the East African Crude oil pipeline project, a function that was also attended by the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara Dr Solomon Gafabusa Iguru 1. "This project will have many workers who will need jobs, clothes, food and accommodation. Tap such opportunities" Museveni said atop a military jeep. Bunyoro region will host the proposed oil refinery which is expected to produce at least 60,000 barrels of oil per day, an airport, tarmacked roads, airfield pipelines that will bring crude oil from various oil wells to the refinery and the East African crude oil pipeline which will cover a distance of 1,444 kilometres. President Museveni and the Tanzanian foreign affairs Minister Dr Augustine Mahiga laid a foundation stone of the crude oil pipeline that will transport crude oil from oil fields in the Albertine graben to Tanga Port in Tanzania. The Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli who started a three day official state visit on Thursday, skipped the Hoima function but he was represented by Dr Mahiga who led a team of senior politicians and technocrats from Tanzania. "We are here to recall the rich history of Bunyoro that appears in all history books of Africa. You are custodians of this oil resource. You have shown us...

President Paul of Rwanda has told business and political leaders and entrepreneurs that African can make great progress in getting rid of all barriers to free trade within on the continent in the next five years to 10 years. The President was on Nov.01 addressing the 2017 Global Business Forum, Africa, held in the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. To go beyond the current level of intra-Africa trade which is estimated at around 15%, the President said requires "building knowledge and information to tackle existing bottlenecks." He said he believes the nations of Africa are already working on that. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda attended the forum together with the President of Seychelles Danny Faure, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim of Mauritius, Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice president of Ghana, and Festus G. Mogae, former President of Botswana and several cabinet ministers and leading CEO's of African and international companies. Kagame told them that the building blocks for a barrier-free Africa, the trading blocks are already in place and are implementing the right measures to allow integration of the continent for free trade. He was speaking under the theme of "Accelerating African Integration". "If you look at different regions, like the ECOWAS, they have made progress especially in the area of free movement of the people," he said, "Very significantly, if you also look at the east African region even more progress has been made in the area of Customs union and integration in the area of infrastructure. "We can get to...

Rwanda’s Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has reaffirmed government’s commitment to continue supporting the aviation industry. “We have chosen aviation as an economic enabler and will continue to support all players by creating a conducive environment for airline business to thrive,” he said. He was speaking at the opening of the 49th annual general assembly and summit at the Kigali Convention Centre yesterday. The Premier added that Rwanda will continue taking the lead in supporting the industry by encouraging free movement of people and technological innovation to reduce the cost of doing aviation business. Rwanda has adopted the initiative of issuing visas on arrival to encourage movement of people and goods, a move that supports aviation business. According to Ngirente, the removal of visa restrictions is critical in facilitating free movement of people, goods and services across the continent and “will help spur aviation business and related sectors”. Govts urged to cut taxes, improve infrastructure Meanwhile, African governments have been urged to invest more in aviation infrastructure development and give tax incentives to airliners to bolster aviation business on the continent. According to Dr Elijah Chingosho, the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) outgoing secretary general, a lack of a fully liberalised air space, high taxes and poor infrastructure especially at airports continue to hurt the industry, affecting its potential to contribute to the continent’s GDP. Chingosho said there need to put in place the necessary infrastructure to enable African airlines to stem off competition from Europe and Middle East carriers. The official...

Arusha — Multiple border checks in East Africa have been wasteful, the East African Community (EAC) secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko has said. "They have caused unnecessary costs to business. Unnecessary restrictions should be done away with", he said last week during the opening of the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Mutukula. He said as the facility was launched by Presidents John Pombe Maguruli and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda that OSBPs were not entirely knew because they were envisioned in the EAC Common Market Protocol. "The first OSBP operations was at Malaba railway station between Uganda and Kenya over ten years ago. These pilot programmes provided a practical justification for upscaling the One Stop Border programme in the entire region", he said. He added that it was long that the Customs Departments of the partner states realized that multiple examination of goods at their internal border within EA was "wasteful and caused unnecessary costs to business". The construction of the Mutukula OSBP was carried out with funding of $11.7million from the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development (DFID). The systems and other related soft infrastructure equivalent to $1.2million was funded by the Government of Canada, through Global Affairs, Canada. The OSBP investment includes office buildings, roads and parking yards, cargo verification bays, scanner shed, passenger sheds and targeting booths. Others are warehouse and canopies, ICT networks and hardware, furniture, and institutional support to the border agencies. EAC says OSBPs would not only ensure effective border control mechanisms were...

The industrial sector should take advantage of the East African Community (EAC) 150 million people and opportunities created by the regional Common Market Protocol to stimulate demand and competitiveness. Alphonse Kwizera, the Rwanda Association of Manufacturers (RAM) technical expert, said the success of the EAC industrialisation programme will depend on the manufacturing sector’s ability to leverage the opportunities the bloc and other markets on the continent present them to deepen their reach and become sustainable. Kwizera added that a fully functioning common market and deepening of regional integration through a monetary union could provide the much-needed stimulus to drive industrial growth across the region. The RAM official was speaking after the release of EAC Industrial Competitiveness Report 2017 on Friday by the East African Community secretariat, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Government of Korea. The report with a theme, ‘Harnessing the EAC Market to Drive Industrial Competitiveness and Growth’ assesses the region’s industrial performance vis-à-vis other regions and role models in Asia and Africa, and sheds light on strategic short and long-term industrialisation paths that the EAC should pursue. It also provides a compass to policy-makers, the private sector, particularly manufacturing firms and associations, and other stakeholders on the broader direction of the EAC industrial development trajectory and the internal competitiveness dynamics among partner states. It also points out the need to embrace uniform and sustainable approaches that will help boost competitiveness of manufacturers in the region. Uniform approach to industrial development According to Kwizera, supporting regional...

Arusha — South Sudan government has been taken to court for interfering with the judiciary independence after firing 14 judges recently. The July 12, 2017 decree to remove the judges has been deemed not only illegal and unconstitutional, but amounted to breaching the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (EAC) for which it is a member. The Republic of South Sudan through its ministry of Justice have a case to answer after one of the sacked judges filed a case demanding reinstatement at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). Justice Malek Mathiang Malek, who has served as judge for over 20 years, is challenging the Republican Decree of July 12, which removed the 14 judges, including himself. The removal order was made following a nation-wide strike by some judges serving both the High Court and the Court of Appeal demanding the resignation of the Chief Justice Chan Recc Madut. The CJ has been accused by some judges for allegedly being behind the deteriorating services in the Judiciary, including insufficient transport facilities and court rooms and poor renumerations. The 14 justices and judges, who went on strike on May 2, were subsequently removed on July 12, but it was not until July 22 that the applicant became aware. But Justice Malek has challenged the removal, saying the independence of the judiciary from the executive is guaranteed under Article 124 (1) of the laws of the Republic of South Sudan. "The President has no powers whatsoever of removing...