MORE COMMITMENT: Eriyo said progress is being made in some areas but all EAC Partner States remain largely non-compliant in their services trade liberalization commitments. KAMPALA, UGANDA - Partner states of the East African Community (EAC) are slow to open up their domestic markets and non-tariff barriers continue pose a problem, especially the liberalisation of services across the region.  The second EAC Common Market Scorecard (CMS) 2016 which evaluates implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol was launched last week in Kampala by the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration, Jesca Eriyo. Scorecard 2016, measures Partner States’ compliance to the free movement of capital, services, and goods and was developed by the World Bank Group together with TradeMark Africa (TMA) at the request of the EAC Secretariat. The Scorecard was developed over a period of 18 months under the supervision of the EAC Secretariat and Partner States. The areas of capital, services and goods were selected for scoping as they are fundamental to the operations of the Common Market. Eriyo said, “A number of reforms have been undertaken since the 2014 CMS.  These have brought the total number of non-conforming measures (NCMs) down from 63 in 2014 to 59 in 2016.  While this shows progress it should be noted that all EAC Partner States remain largely non-compliant in their services trade liberalization commitments.” Commenting on the latest results, Eriyo said the Scorecard is well aligned with the EAC’s implementation priorities. “It fosters peer learning and facilitate...

A group of Rwandan members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) are in the country on an outreach and sensitization mission. They have visited several borders to assess problems that hinder cross-border trade and travel and acquaint the border communities with East African Community (EAC) issues. While all border posts have their own unique problems, the Nemba One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) with Burundi’s concerns are mainly security issues since trade has come to a near standstill. But the vibrant and busy borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda are more concerned with trade and how the OSBP can be more beneficial. Most have been advocating for cross-border markets and the government and some of its partners such as Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) have taken heed. Streamlining trading issues will only enhance better cooperation and understanding among border communities. It will also improve the welfare of women as they dominate cross-border trade. So it comes as welcome news that TMA has a particular soft spot for women and has designed special programmes to empower them. But empowering one side of the border alone will not bring many benefits. TMA should duplicate what it is doing for Rwandan women across the other side of the borders of EAC member states. Just as Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are marketing the country as a single tourist destination at this year’s London Expo, there is more strength in unity. A people who move in tandem are likely to travel further...

The report, conducted on behalf of TMA by a consulting firm says the organization is on track to achieving its target of reducing time taken for goods in transit through East Africas' main transport corridors. The elimination of non-tariff barriers, upgrading of customs systems and custom reforms, improvement of testing by National Bureau of Standards have reduced the cost and time of doing business in Uganda. This is according to an independent evaluation report that was released by TradeMark Africa (TMA). TMA aims at helping traders reduce by 15%, the time taken for a container when being imported or exported from Mombasa to Kigali. The report, conducted on behalf of TMA by a consulting firm says the organization is on track to achieving its target of reducing time taken for goods in transit through East Africas' main transport corridors. The announcement was made during the launch of the Uganda Electronic Single Window in Kampala on Friday. Evaluators added that trade programs supported by TMA have reduced trade costs; inducing US$97M in new trade deals between the financial year 2014/2016. Interventions at the Uganda Bureau of Standards have led to a reduction of the average time it takes to test selected products from 19 to 8 days, with the cost of testing products reducing by 71 % ,in terms of money, a reduction  in testing costs from $350 - $100. Due to improvement in customs services, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) recorded an increase in revenue collection by 48 per cent as...

Tanzania’s recent move to cut resident permit fees for residents of the East African Community bloc (EAC) has been described as a good gesture. The country’s Ministry of Home Affairs reduced by half, to $500 for the A-4 category resident permit for small-scale traders, businesses, artisans, fishing, farming or any legally recognised activity. The permits are for renewal every two years. Rwandan members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) commended the gesture from Tanzania but added that East Africa’s largest nation should now scrap the fees altogether. Martin Ngoga said: “It is a good development and marks good progress towards approximation of our laws in the EAC. It is a boost towards enjoyment of the freedoms provided by the common market protocol. We certainly still have a lot to do in that direction and, in so doing, we need to appreciate every step we make along the way. Some partner states waived, totally, these fees.” The Assembly has repeatedly voiced its concerns over the lack of harmonisation and approximation of national laws in the region, which they say negatively affects cross-border business, and the integration agenda. MP Straton Ndikuryayo, a member of EALA’s standing Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment (CTI), noted that Tanzania’s President John Magufuli made a commendable step. “The reduction of the amount by 50 percent is a big step in line with facilitating free movement of people, capital, and goods. However, my wish is to see a total waiver of work or resident permit for...

On-going railway construction works in Kenya. East Africa received more Foreign Direct Investment in 2015 compared to the previous year, even as the rest of the continent attracted less foreign investment. PHOTO | FILE  The Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, to East Africa grew last year despite an overall drop across Africa from $87 billion to $66.5 billion. A new report by Analyse Africa, a data service of the Financial Times shows 705 projects were supported by foreign investors across the continent in 2015 with infrastructure taking about 44 per cent of the inflows. The three East African counties were joint tenth in the continent with regard to attracting investments. In the period, Kenya saw one of the biggest increases with projects increasing by a half from 57 to 85. The projects had a value of $ 2.4 billion. Up to 44 per cent of the investors targeted infrastructure related areas including power, construction and ICT. Trends “This clearly demonstrates that foreign investors are thinking long term about Africa’s prospects,” said Ms.Adriene Klasa who edited the report. According to Ms Klasa, FDI decline in value does not mean the continent is in free fall. "While some larger economies are struggling disproportionally dragging down the region average, smaller players are stable and growing a steady clip,” she said Tanzania, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire are cited among economies that are stable. According to The Africa investment report, Coal, oil and natural gas were the top sector by capital investment in 2015, accounting for...

President John Pombe Magufuli with his host President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO | DAILY NATION  For his no-holds barred war on inept and corrupt government officials, Tanzanian President John Magufuli earned the moniker “Bulldozer” soon after he was elected into office a year ago. That heavy equipment, like an elephant, takes a while to turn and President Magufuli has kept diplomacy watchers waiting for some signal on the direction he was likely to take, foremost on mending the evident but often denied fractious relations between Dar es Salaam and other East Africa Community capitals with the exception of Bujumbura. Until his first official visit to Rwanda 10 months into his regime, President Magufuli had focused on domestic matters, with reforms meant to rid bureaucracy, inefficiency and corruption top of his mind. Cargo clearance at the port of Dar es Salaam improved, Tanzania Revenue Authority collections increased and verification of invoices from government suppliers became stricter. While at it, the president delegated attendance of key international events including the World Trade Organisation Ministerial and the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD) both held in Nairobi, adding to the feeling that all was not well between the two neighbours. Not surprisingly, reports that President Magufuli would be on a three-day state visit to Kenya last week proved a big talking point on social media in the two countries. “The visit by President Magufuli has opened a new chapter in strengthening of the bilateral and brotherly relations between our two...

Patience Mutesi, the Country Director for Trademark East Africa. / Timothy . Kisambira Patience Mutesi, the Country Director for Trademark East Africa (TMA), says one of the organisation’s goals is to work with various partners like PROFEMMES Twese Hamwe to help women entrepreneurs get access to credit. The agency which was created to facilitate trade and promote business competitiveness in the region, has funded various projects worth $65 million.  Sunday Times’ Emmanuel Ntirenganya had an interview with Mutesi on a number of issues which include TMA’s priorities and how to empower women entrepreneurs for them to be competitive in the business sector. Below are the excepts.  *** As the new TMA Country Director, what are your priorities? My priority will be to ensure that we have a smooth transition between strategy one and strategy two, to make sure that the projects that we started in strategy one are closed well on time, on budget and on good quality. My second strategy is mobilisation to be able to adequately raise funds for strategy two. Smallholder women traders have been facing challenges of lack of capital to run businesses: how is Trademark East Africa going to help address such issues? In cases where some women lack access to capital, we look at institutions we can work with through PROFEMME Twese Hamwe, to have better access to finances. So, I would say that we work with a number of partners to be able to help these women improve their businesses. For us what we do is...

“…the whole relationship can change very quickly, just as quickly as it has just done overnight for SPL-IO in Kenya. South Sudan itself can even face suspension from EAC until it has sorted out her internal chaos.” The expulsion (if confirmed by Juba) of James Gadet, spokesman for SPLM/A-IO from his base in Nairobi, must signal a game change, if not yet from East African Community member countries as a whole, certainly from Kenya. Any opposition to Juba from Nairobi will, from now on, remain less vocal and less vitriolic than we have known it in the recent past. And while opposition residents of far away democracies may continue their vitriolic opposition to Juba through social media in particular, member countries of the East African Communities will find it difficult to host those openly hostile and planning an overthrow of the government of a member and neighbouring country such as South Sudan. The laws of the community are likely to prohibit such hostile activities from their territories. Countries like Ethiopia and Sudan, who have their own internal rebels and may use South Sudan as a base, may not find it beneficial to host anyone openly opposed to Juba. However, should war continue to destabilise South Sudan, displacing huge populations, as it is now doing, internally and externally, without a viable peace initiative on the table; and a collapsing economy; while Juba remains on the war path with uncompromising attitude, the whole relationship can change very quickly, just as quickly as...

The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is East Africa’s biggest transport project and the region's leaders have great expectations for the benefits it will bring once it is complete. The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is East Africa’s biggest transport project and the region's leaders have great expectations for the benefits it will bring once it is complete. As Kenya progresses with its section of the railway and Uganda gets ready to begin construction of its part, the ministers responsible for the project in both countries have signed a memorandum of understanding to manage its smooth  and efficient operations upon completion. The MoU will allow one operator to run the train from the coast in Mombasa to Kampala The railway line, which will connect the four East African countries of Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, and Rwanda is expected to be ready in three years and it is projected to ease the transportation of goods and passengers all over the region. When its complete, the railway will traverse the breadth of Kenya from Mombasa port where  close to 5.5 million tonnes of Ugandan cargo are held. With its estimates, a trader who currently spends Shs680  to transport a tonne of goods over a kilometre will now spend Shs272. At 1,249 kilometres from Mombasa, a Ugandan trader spends 850,000 shillings to transport one tonne of goods, with the rail, they will save Shs510,000 and export a tonne for Shs340,000, an estimated 60% of the sum. Different stakeholders from Uganda, which is yet to lay its rail,...

The second East African Community Common Market Scorecard 2016, released last week, suggests a region that is still a long way off if the goal to economic integration is to be realised. According to the scorecard, member states continue to trade as separate and distinct markets keeping their economies small and disconnected, despite a standing treaty giving the countries freedom of movement of goods, labour, services, and capital across the six-nation bloc. Only two of the 20 operations that facilitate deeper financial integration were found to be free of restrictions in all of the member states. At least 63 non-conforming measures are slowing down trade in the service sector, while regional trade in goods continues to be constrained by not less than 51 non-tariff barriers (NTBs). Widely disparate recognition of certificates of origin by the member states is a case in point, though there was a slightly better resolution of new NTBs for the 2016 period, at about 54 per cent, compared to the 38 per cent reported in the 2014 Scorecard. But it is evident all is not well. Another analysis carried out early this year, The Political Economy of Regional Integration in Africa: The East African Community Report, pointed to policy implementation that is affected by weak or absent formal institutions, as well as strong emerging informal institutions. The report observed that a large number of formal rules to provide checks and balances on policy implementation have not been institutionalised. This includes the power provided to the Heads...