The symbols of South Sudan’s key challenges boom overhead every 15 minutes, briefly denying Juba residents the chance of sensible conversation, making paperwork on desks flutter and shake and dust rise on the streets. They are aircraft, commercial flights carrying businessmen and aid workers, and United Nations transport craft ferrying food and people to staunch the needs of more than a million made homeless and thousands killed since renewed internal conflict erupted in December 2013. Residents of Juba have become used to the noise but recognise that the aerial traffic encapsulates the dilemma facing the world’s newest nation as it tries to develop and tap its undoubted potential. “Peace. For South Sudan to really begin to grow, we need peace more than anything else,” says Caesar Riko, the policy and advocacy advisor of South Sudan Chamber of Commerce. “We can grow, even in conflict, but not the way we could if there was peace.” The world’s newest nation was born in July 2011 in jubilation after almost 30 years of war with the Khartoum government in the North but descended into internal conflict in December 2011 when President Salva Kiir accused his deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting to overthrow him. That simmering conflict shut down South Sudan’s key oil fields in the North of the country and has highlighted in cruel focus the need for the country to diversify away from 98% dependence on petroleum for the revenue with which to develop a country of around 12 million people. The...

Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali Highway It’s 1,200 km from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to the Ugandan capital, Kampala and another 525 to the capital of Rwanda, Kigali. But with a few strokes of the politicians’ pens and some clicks on a mouse, that distance just got dramatically shorter. “It used to take 18 days or more for one of our trucks to get here from Mombasa,” said Kassim Omar, Chairman of the Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association (UCIFA). “Now the same journey takes four days, sometimes even three.” The reduction is due to the decision at a Northern Corridor infrastructure summit by the Presidents of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda to speed rapidly growing freight along their key trade route and the implementation of a variety of hi-tech systems that have slashed paperwork and time. The combination has stripped away a lot of the bureaucratic red tape that snarled the free flow of trade in the East African Community and contributed to some of the highest transport costs in the world, accounting for up to 40% of the price of goods to consumers. In October 2013, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya agreed to implement a Single Customs Territory (SCT) between them as members of the East African Community. Tanzania and Burundi, say they followed suit at the Summit in November 2013. At a stroke, the agreement removed multiple weighbridge, police and customs checks along the Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali route and introduced computerised clearance and electronic...

Two years ago truck drivers plying the highway from Dar es Salaam through Tanzania could only fume and argue when they ran into bureaucratic roadblocks, which slowed them to a halt. Today they get around those barriers – with their cell phones. A trailblazing scheme developed by the Tanzanian business community allows frustrated operators to report Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs) slowing their freight by SMS message and online – and it is working. “Of all the NTBs that have been reported to us, 42%, that’s nearly half, have been resolved,” says Shammi Elbariki, NTB project coordinator at the online system developed by the Tanzanian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA). The award-winning scheme, developed with help from TradeMark Africa, has attracted attention from the transport industry across the region as it struggles to overturn NTBs inherited from the days before the East African Community (EAC) project was launched. “Uganda has already asked about the technology used so that it can devise a similar scheme, and there is similar interest across the EAC because NTBs are an EAC-wide problem,” says Josaphat Kweka, TradeMark Africa (TMA) Country Director, Tanzania. EAC member governments are committed to abolishing NTBs eventually to create a seamless single market that will spur trade and prosperity and TradeMark Africa (TMA) has helped create National Monitoring Committees (NMCs) in every state to accelerate the process. Under the TCCIA scheme, transport operators, freight forwarders and clearing agents are trained how to report NTBs both online and through SMS and...

Rwanda’s small trucking industry hasn’t had much to shout about recently, unless it was to complain about interminable roadside delays due to bureaucracy, corruption and paperwork. Until now. Some neat diplomatic footwork with neighbouring Tanzania has given Rwandan truckers some good news in an industry where time is money, costs are high, and margins small and the playing field tilted towards the regional giants and their huge trucking sectors. “Yes, some good news for a change,” says Theodore Murenzi, head of the Rwanda Truckers Association. “Tanzania has dropped a road toll which penalized Rwandan trucks on the central corridor. It’s not 100% good news, but it’s a real start.” A study into the competitiveness of Rwanda’s road freight industry highlighted what Rwandan truckers had long complained about – Tanzania charged Rwandan trucks a $500 transit toll yet Rwanda charged Tanzanian registered trucks only $152, putting Rwanda’s drivers at a $348 disadvantage every return trip and adding to already high costs. Such bureaucratic hurdles to free trade are known as Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs). The EAC is committed to eliminating them altogether, but the process is laborious and the barriers cemented in protectionism. “We registered this as an NTB at the level of the EAC, but the harmonization of the road toll at EAC level is not decided,” says Vincent Safari, head of the National Monitoring Committee on NTBs. “But the study was evidence-based, factual and detailed and we were confident it would succeed, somehow.” After validation of the findings of...

In 1999 Jane Nazziwa moved from the capital city of Uganda, Kampala, to a small island 40 kms away, located amid the papyrus channels of Lake Victoria, and accessible only by boat. Jane went there to look after her brother’s seven young children who were AIDS orphans. Her brother had been a farmer on Bussi Island, growing crops on seven acres of land. Arriving on Bussi, Jane knew nothing about farming and spent the first couple of years learning on the job. Then, thanks to a programme run by Jali Organic Development Company, a company processing organic pineapples for export, Jane learnt that by cooperating with other farmers, she could use economies of scale and the power of bulk selling, to increase her income. Jali Organic Development Company (Jali) is run by businessman, Ephraim Muanga. Knowing that Uganda’s pineapples were renowned for their sweetness, he committed to buying pineapples from Bussi Island smallholders. The only problem was getting the pineapples to the market. Taking them by canoe to the mainland was a time consuming process and, because he was buying in bulk, not practical. Getting farmers to the market Muanga connected with NOGAMU (National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda), an umbrella organisation of farmers, processors, exporters and others, with over a million smallholders in its network. NOGAMU’s main objective is to link growers with buyers. In doing this, it offers research and extension services, helps farmers to get appropriate export certification and advocates for an enabling environment for farmers. NOGAMU...

Whenever I talk or write about East African integration I use this picture of three boys sharing a lollipop. I don’t know where the photo came from or who the boys are, but I do know that it speaks volumes about the way trade could lift millions out of poverty. These three little boys in Kigali are sharing a lollipop. They lick it in turns. The lollipop is imported, so 45% of its cost is due to transport and allied costs. It might have been made in Kenya or Tanzania or even further afield, and it has travelled thousands of kilometres and several borders. So whichever of the boys bought that treat, he’s paying part of the freight clearance charges, handling charges, insurance, fuel costs and the salary of the trucker who got it to the Rwandan capital. It’s no wonder that the boys cannot afford to buy their own lollipops but have to share one. Transport costs in East Africa are among the highest in the world. This is largely due to infrastructure and regulatory constraints but the major reasons for the high costs are policy, legal and regulatory constraints, not infrastructure. It’s not only the slow ports or bad roads that up the price, its old policy and legal habits and slow border crossings. It takes 28 days and $600 to move a 40-foot container from the port of Shanghai, China to Mombasa, Kenya. It can take almost the same amount of time for the same container to...

An innovative training program for clearing agents is growing a new breed of professionals to spur trade and prosperity in East Africa. “Where you see trade grow you see prosperity take root. By training the key people in the freight forwarding business, we are helping move goods quicker, save time and money and help the region develop” said Silas Kanamugire of TradeMark Africa (TMA). Run by the East Africa regional freight forwarding governing body (FEAFFA), the program is quickly churning out a fresh generation of professionally trained freight forwarders to quickly expand the ever-growing potential for trade within the East African region. With TradeMark Africa (TMA)’s support, FEAFFA aims to transform the job of freight clearing and forwarding into a recognized profession and to standardize and regulate this key position to streamline the process of doing business in the five-nation bloc. “My clients are now satisfied with the fast clearance of their goods. We are now not seen as unreliable or barriers to the trade process, but rather partners who can help grow the prosperity of this region”, Said Xavery Komba, CEO of Victorius Tanzania Ltd, one of the trained agents. “With more than 40% of business costs accruing to transport and logistics, there is increasing appreciation of the importance of the sector in international trade. I am pleased this program will raise professional standards in the industry with the aim of increasing trade and prosperity in the region,” said the Federation’s Regional Executive Officer, John Mathenge. Up until recently,...

Rwanda is blazing a trail for the rest of East Africa to follow by launching sub-Saharan Africa’s first one-stop electronic trade clearance system, a computerized scheme that saves time, shoe leather and money. “This is a ground breaking scheme to cut the red tape snarling trade and I am confident it will pave the way for similar systems in EAC countries as well as making Rwanda an even cheaper place to do business,” Ben Kagarama, Commissioner General of the Rwanda Revenue Authority said at the launch August 3rd, 2012. Called the Rwanda Electronic Single Window (RESW), the system gathers under one electronic roof all the agencies needed to clear, approve and charge duty on imports and transit goods transparently, quickly and efficiently. “It’s one of our most important areas of support – an I.T. solution to improve the administration of the whole process of clearing goods and bring Kigali one day closer to Mombasa.” said Mark Priestley, Rwanda Country Director of TradeMark Africa, which helped deliver the system. “It has huge implications and offers great possibilities for other countries in the EAC, several of whom are adopting the same system.” In the past, the landlocked country of Rwanda cleared goods using hard copy documents that were physically moved from office to office and across a variety of organizations – the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), the Rwanda Bureau of Standards, the Health Ministry, the Airlines and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). Now the process has been streamlined and computerized and can...

In the international TV reality show “The Apprentice,” ambitious contestants pit their wits against a business mogul to win a chance to work alongside him and make their fortune. But in a real-life version, bright young Rwandan graduates are handpicked to advise and shape government policy to help turn one of Africa’s smallest countries into an export-driven Switzerland of Africa. “We came here as fresh new graduates,” says Patrick Manirampa, beaming confidently in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), where he works. “It was a golden opportunity.” He is one of the eight graduates selected for a scheme known as the Young Professional Programme which seeks to educate, train and build the effectiveness not just of the individual but of the government institution to which he or she is attached. These Young Professionals are currently integrated into three different institutions in Rwanda: two in MINICOM, four others work in the Ministry of East African Community (MINEAC) and two in the Private Sector Federation (PSF). The Programme is funded by TradeMark Africa (TMA) as part of the different funding agreements it has with these partner institutions. Patrick, and fellow Young Professional Jonas Munyurangabo, are enjoying the first formal jobs of their young lives and have helped shape trade policy at both the national level and at the negotiating table with large trade blocs including the East African Community (EAC), European Union (EU), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the United States of...

DAR ES SALAAM – Tanzania’s government and freight industry is mounting a multi-pronged attack on an army of barriers slowing cargo traffic on its lifeline central corridor highway to boost regional growth and development through smoother trade. “There is no doubt that provision of improved transport infrastructure and services are a process which is critical for ongoing growth and development, “the Executive Secretary of the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA), Rukia Shamte said. She spoke at the launch of the Central Corridor Transport Observatory, an I.T.-based system aimed at identifying the innumerable procedural and physical roadblocks that slow traffic within Tanzania and to neighbouring countries, raising the eventual cost to consumers. The Observatory is one of several initiatives backed by TradeMark Africa (TMA) to accelerate and increase trade within the East African Community (EAC) and beyond to grow prosperity for its 140 million citizens by lowering costs and improving access. “We’re helping set up modern computerized systems and databases to amass all the evidence needed to help the government and private sector overturn Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to trade and cut the cost of imports, which can be as much as 45 percent in landlocked countries,” said Scott Allen, Deputy CEO of TradeMark Africa (TMA). The initiatives track transport delays and holdups so that they can be logged and followed in real-time and then forwarded to the relevant government department or private sector agency for a solution. “If 45 percent of anything, even the cost of a lollipop for...