NAIROBI (HAN) September 14.2016. Public Diplomacy & Regional Security News. By Allan Olingo and Fred Oluoch. You have just finalised your travel plans: Done your budget, reserved the tickets and accommodation and confirmed your passport is up to date. Then it hits you: You don’t have any information on a visa for the African country you are visiting. You assume it will be easy to get a visa as everything has been taken care of. But should you? Have you been to the embassy, filled out the forms, paid the fee and waited for the visa to be processed? Take visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo or Nigeria, for instance. If you have journalist under “Occupation,” you must get a written approval from the Ministry of Information in Kinshasa or Abuja, before the embassy in Nairobi issues you with a visa. This will cost you $200, on top of the $50 visa fee. While Mauritius, Rwanda and recently Benin are the leading examples of visa-free countries for Africans, Ghana from July introduced a visa-on-arrival policy for citizens of African Union member states. But national sovereignty, irregular immigration flows, xenophobia, terrorism and refugees still make African countries hesitant to adopt a visa-free Africa or even adopt the African Union passport. Cristiano D’Orsi, a lecturer in international legal protection for asylum-seekers at the University of Pretoria said that most countries on the continent have shown visa barriers for other African nationals. “The best reason put forward for this has been the economic burden...

FUNDING of entrepreneurial ventures will feature prominently in the maiden East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition, which is slated for October 10 in Nairobi, Kenya. The three-day event, organised by the East African Business Council, in partnership with national investment agencies in the East African Community, will also throw a special look on women entrepreneurs, according to Angelika Farhan, EABC’s business development manager. “There are numerous programmes that  promote women entrepreneurs. Many women have an extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit but with limited access to financing,” Farhan said last week. “We want to show their power, energy and opportunities by inviting many female speakers who can report on their success stories. I was impressed by how many women entrepreneurs are active and successful in the ICT sector.” Organisers expect up to 300 participants from the infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy sectors, as well as from the ICT and leather and textile industries, and financing institutions. Policy-makers and top representatives of relevant international organisations will participate. “We expect Kenyan First Lady Margaret Kenyatta to host a special ladies dinner to encourage women to participate in this important networking event,” he said. Ladies showing the bedspread they make in Kitenge clothe at Cocoki Design Sewing. Christine Rukera, owner of Premium Cayenne Pepper, a Rwandan pepper producing firm, told The New Times that women entrepreneurs “for a long time had been dogged by financial constraints, not only loans from banks but also in accessing family funds.” “What took them so long to figure out...

East African Community Secretariat; Arusha, Tanzania; 13 September 2016:The officials from the Departments of Trade, Customs and Infrastructure of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) led by Transport Facilitation  and Policy Expert, Mr. Appiah Christian  and Trademark East Africa led by Director General, David Stanton  today paid a working visit to the EAC Headquarters and held discussions with the Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko and other EAC Senior officials. The purpose of their visit was to gain insight on major developments realized as well as challenges experienced within the EAC especially on areas of Trade and Customs, Investment, and infrastructure  as well as sharing  experience of the same from ECOWAS. In his welcoming remarks, the Secretary General hailed the good relationship  between EAC and ECOWAS  as well as the increasing opportunities for  inter-regional trade brought about by the establishment of regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa. Amb. Mfumukeko, emphasised the increasing collaboration between the EAC and ECOWAS. He said the EAC was keen on what ECOWAS has attained in the area of financial integration and movements of people. Noting the establishment of a tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) between the East African Community (EAC), South African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Secretary General said he looked forward to the FTA linking up with ECOWAS and other RECs to form an African Continental FTA (CFTA). Accompanying the Secretary General, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning...

The Minister for Natural Resources, Dr Vincent Biruta (L), and Dr Josua Dione, senior advisor to the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, sign the 'Kigali Declaration' that paves way for the establishment of the Climate Application and Prediction Centre for Central Africa in Kigali on Monday. / Timothy Kisambira Rwanda has become the first country to sign up to a framework that paves the way for the establishment of the Climate Application and Prediction Centre for Central Africa, which will serve the 11 member states of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). The centre, whose creation was agreed upon during the last ECCAS Heads of State and Government Summit held in Chad in May, last year, will provide much needed support to the bloc’s member states in terms of recording data, as well as forecasting and sharing information related to weather and climatic conditions. The centre, which will be hosted in Cameroon, is expected to start operations next year. Rwanda on Monday signed up to the Kigali Declaration on the Establishment of the Climate Application and Prediction Centre for Central Africa on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) User Forum in Africa, a gathering of global climate specialists and meteorologists. Participants follow proceedings at the EUMETSAT meeting in Kigali. / Timothy Kisambira The declaration represents the strongest commitment to date to make the centre a reality, officials said. Other member states are expected to sign the document...

Heads of two leading travel agencies in Kigali say they have sustained major financial losses due to the border closure between Burundi and Rwanda. In late July, the Burundi government suspended food exports to Rwanda – allegedly due to drought – and Burundian security officers have since prevented passengers’ buses from crossing the border. Relations between Burundi and Rwanda have soured since Burundi’s President Nkurunziza, who was elected for a controversial third term in July 2015, accused Rwanda of supporting rebels in Burundi. Volcano Express and Yahoo car Express, which carry passengers between Burundi and Rwanda, and Uganda and Kenya, have seen a sharp decline in business. Movement is virtually at a standstill; there are no passengers, some bus routes in Burundi have stopped, and businesses are no longer making cross border transactions. Olivier Nizeyimana is the Managing Director of Volcano Express. Some of his buses registered in Burundi are simply waiting inside the country, doing nothing. “Our buses are locked there. Some escaped by other borders, but they were empty. The government should respect our business, as we are paying taxes”, he says. On July 30th, Burundian Vice President, Joseph Butore ordered the Police to prevent all traders from taking products into Rwanda. Previously, many passengers were businessmen from the region, as well as relatives of families that have fled to Rwanda and Uganda due to crisis. No more fruits on Rwandan market Since the closure of border, Rwanda is experiencing significant shortages of food imported from Burundi, including...

IN SUMMARY “Countries in this region have big infrastructure projects going on. These must in future be consistent with the EAC macroeconomic and monetary union convergence criteria,” he said. Mega infrastructure projects in East Africa may stop once the monetary union is put in place seven years from now to avoid breaching the regional fiscal deficit and debt policies. East African Community (EAC) countries will be forced to stick to the three per cent maximum fiscal deficit as opposed to the current situation where Kenya is at 9.4 per cent deficit — largely due to the construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR). Bank of Uganda (BoU) deputy governor Louis Kasekende said countries in the region would have to ensure their infrastructure or other spending ambitions are in line with the fiscal deficit ceiling set under the monetary convergence criteria. “Countries in this region have big infrastructure projects going on. These must in future be consistent with the EAC macroeconomic and monetary union convergence criteria,” he said. The BoU deputy governor was speaking during a symposium called by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) as part of its celebration of 50 years since it was set up. In Kenya’s case the fiscal deficit has been hovering around 8-11 per cent in the past few years, though it is projected to come down in the coming years. READ: EAC's mounting debt, a recipe for regional crisis The fall in the deficit is associated with the conclusion of the SGR. Kenya borrowed...

Plans are underway along the East African coast to expand existing maritime terminals and to develop new terminals, in particular along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts. Infrastructure developments including dredging operations and rail links, could make a significant difference to the economic outcomes. While development of a new terminal located to the northeast of Mombasa at Lamu is underway, the recently elected new Tanzanian Government has opted to curtail expenditures involved in developing a new port to the northeast of Dar es Salaam and has chosen to increase the size of the existing port. Dredging is underway at the Port of Maputo in Mozambique from 11 meter (36 foot) keel depth to 14.2 meter (46.6 foot) keel depth. Port of Maputo The container terminal quay at Maputo is allocated a berth/quay of 300 meter (984 feet) in length and dredging would allow a vessel such as the 337 meter (1,106 foot), 9,200 TEU container ship MSC Pamela that sails with 12.8 meter (42 foot) draft and 46 meter (151 foot) beam to call at Port of Maputo. In the future, port authorities may need to explore allocating additional berth/quay length to the container terminal. Railway lines connect Maputo to Pretoria and Johannesburg in South Africa as well as Lusaka in Zambia and Harare in Zimbabwe. The Maputo – Johannesburg railway distance is almost identical to the Durban – Johannesburg railway distance. While Port of Durban is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and busiest container port, the overland connections to the very populous...

East African nations have the most powerful passports in the continent outside South Africa, a 2016 Index by World Economic forum shows. The power of a passport is measured interms of the number of countries one can travel to visa free. Kenyans can travel to 65 countries in the world while Tanzanians can travel to 62 countries with Ugandans able to travel to 58 countries around the world without a visa. Nigerians can only travel to 44 countries in the world with Senegalese being able to travel to 56 countries, Ghana 61, and 51 for Sierra Leone. The nationals of Mauritania can travel to 54 countries. South Africans lead the continent with access to 91 destinations visa free. The strength of the passport depicts a country’s diplomatic strength and also its tourism potential. Somalis can travel to 31 countries. The 2016 ranking puts Germany and Sweden at the top of the passport league. Holders of German and Swedish passports can visit 158 countries without the need for a visa. “The least powerful passports are issued by poor countries, often mired in conflict. The people of Afghanistan can only visit 24 countries without applying for a visa,” WEF  said in the latest survey. Pakistan fares little better, with just 31 countries offering visa-free travel. The passport of the world’s newest nation, strife-torn South Sudan, only allows visa-free access to 36 countries. Source: The Exchange

By Louis Kolumbia Dar es Salaam — Tanzania will lose $865 million (Sh1.7 trillion) in revenue during the 25 years of implementing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) should the East African Community sign the pact with the European Union (EU), according to opposition politician Zitto Kabwe. Referring to renowned economist Jacques Berthelot, Mr Kabwe said statistics from Eurostat and the International Trade Centre (ITC) showed that EAC would lose 3.6 billion euros in revenue as a bloc. "Losses will mainly be caused by contractual demands requiring Tanzania to scrap tax barriers by 90 per cent on non-agricultural products from the EU and by 10 per cent on agricultural products," the ACT-Wazalendo leader said in a statement. "This means that Tanzania will remain a supplier of raw material and a market to value added products from the EU." Mr Kabwe also said Tanzania would lose anticipated revenue following removal of value added tax (VAT) payable as import duty to products from the EU. Relaxing import duty barriers would lead to trade diversion whereby products from the EU will tend to remove products from foreign countries, thus denying the country revenue, he added. The Kigoma Urban MP cited Section 99.1 of the contract, saying the partners recognised challenges that would lead to revenue losses, and suggested that a solution could be sought through introduction of a compensation system. Section 100 of the contract says following revenue losses, the EU will negotiate with partner countries on taxation policy changes, cooperate in changing revenue...

In this monthly column called “The Indicator”, we take a economic or financial statistic from East Africa and break it down into bite-sized nuggets of knowledge for investors. This month’s Indicator is a sad one, dedicated to the loss of a good friend of the authors, Mohamed Mtaturu Mkonongo, and is intended to be a note of caution. 43,164 is the number of traffic accident fatalities found for the latest year studied in the East African Community countries, except for Burundi due to lack of available data. What do you mean by road traffic fatalities? Car, truck, motorcycle, and other automobile crashes on roadways that ended the life of a person are counted as road traffic fatalities. How big of an issue is road traffic for public health? The World Health Organization reports that “road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15–29 years and 90% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low and middle income countries, even though these countries have approximately half of the world’s vehicles.” Weighted by population, each year EAC countries have 2.9 people die from road traffic per every 10 thousand people in the country. Which EAC country has the most and least per capita road traffic fatalities? Tanzania has the highest per capita traffic accident fatalities in the EAC at 3.2 for every 10 thousand citizens. Rwanda is close behind with 3.0 traffic deaths per 10 thousand people. Uganda has the lowest per capita rate at...