Ugandan, Kenyan leaders open re- furbished Busia one-stop border post • 2018-03-05

KAMPALA Uganda (Xinhua) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, jointly commissioned the Busia one-stop border post (OSBP) on Saturday, enabling faster cargo clearing between the two countries.

The Busia OSBP added to entry and exit points already operating under the Coordinated Border Management Concept (CBMC).

Busia one-stop border post is the second busiest entry point in Uganda, approximately 200 km east of Kampala and 431 km west of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

The border handles transit traffic to and from the Great Lakes Region of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

President Museveni said the one stop border post arrangement is expected to allow freer movement of people between the two neighboring countries.

He, however, warned border officials against inhibiting cross-border movements, adding that the OSPB comes in handy in spurring regional trade.

“Trade facilitation such as OSBP, would result into prosperity because it allows the border communities as well as the two countries to do business and create wealth among themselves,” Museveni said.

The Busia OSBP will bring together immigration and customs officials from two neighboring countries under one roof at border crossing points.

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials will jointly attend to importers, exporters and travellers from either side of the border under one roof.

This means that transit goods, passengers, travellers and exports exiting through Busia to either Kenya or Uganda, stop once for clearance by immigration and customs officials and not twice or even multiple times as it was the case before the OSBP came into force.

The project was funded by TradeMark Africa, with support from UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Global Affairs Canada to the tune of 5.3 million U.S. dollars.

Other OSBPs in Uganda are Mirama Hills, Cyanika and Katuna connecting Uganda to Rwanda, Malaba connecting Kenya to Uganda and Mutukula connecting Uganda to Tanzania.

TradeMark has so far injected more than 117 million dollars in constructions of the OSBPs in the region.

Speaking during the launch, the Uganda Revenue Authority acting Commissioner General, Henry Martin Saka, said following the completion the six OSBPs, they now focus on developing those at the border with DR Congo and South Sudan.

Source: Coast Week