Summary Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are seeking to revive connected ports and maritime operations on these shared waters to enhance integration and grow trade by offering cheaper transport across borders. The development of Lake Victoria ports is the biggest project in implementing the East African Community Inland Waterway Transport infrastructure development agreed by partner states to strategically link Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya to both the Northern and Central transport corridors. The three countries are seeking to revive connected ports and maritime operations on these shared waters to enhance integration and grow trade by offering cheaper transport across borders. The Tanzanian ports of Mwanza, Musoma and Bukoba are so far up and running and the busiest on the lake, while the Kisumu port in Kenya was rehabilitated this year as Uganda struggles to build the Bukasa port to complement services offered at Port Bell. The revival of the Kisumu port started as a quid pro quo for the Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga in March 2018, for making peace with President Uhuru Kenyatta after the contested 2017 polls. The port has always been part of the larger East African Community development plans as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania revive the neglected and underdeveloped Lake Victoria transport infrastructure with a potential of generating $60 billion worth of trade annually, but currently only realises $6 billion for the three countries combined. Kenya pumped $7 million into the construction of a fuel jetty, feeder jetties and piers, shunting areas, berths, a terminal and yards, with administrative and...

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) has validated a roadmap to implement the protocol on free movement of persons, which is expected to take 10 years. This was arrived at a high-level legal and policy experts meeting of the regional body held in Entebbe, Kampala on November 16-17 and was also endorsed by the Igad committee of ambassadors and ministers in charge of migration and labour. Upon adoption by the region's summit, the roadmap will ease cross-border mobility for its 270 million people, improve regional economic integration and development. The roadmap is awaiting adoption by the Igad Council of Ministers and Assembly. The report also said the roadmap needed to be validated by the experts of member states and then submitted to the Igad Council of Ministers and the Assembly as annex to the Protocol. Currently, nationals of the eight Igad member states require visas to travel around the region, but experts say after the 10-year implementation of the roadmap will do away with this. "We are embarking on a historic journey for our region. This process of implementation will be long but very significant," said Fathia Alwan, the Igad director of social development. Facilitating adoption For Kenya and Uganda, the adjustment will be easy as they already apply visa-free travel under different trading blocs such as the EAC and the Comesa that they are members of. Ms Alwan said implementation of the protocol that paves the way for free movement of the largely youthful population seeking social services but...

The high prevalence of aflatoxins in maize and other staple foods in East Africa has become an important obstacle to domestic and regional food trade. While East African Community (EAC) Member States have made good progress in adopting regionally harmonized standards that include limits on aflatoxins, the high cost and complexity of meeting these standards has led to a large share of food being traded outside the regulatory system. This has further distanced poor producers from the market and undermined the prospects for regional value chain development. Especially as countries in the EAC look to recover from COVID-19 and build resilient food systems for the future, minimizing the cost of market transactions is more important than ever. The need for aflatoxin management begins at the farm level where fundamental challenges with smallholder agriculture make crops highly susceptible to contamination. Simple improvements to mitigate aflatoxins areas are possible but add to costs; so, can be difficult for poor farmers and traders to justify without adequate incentives. As awareness of aflatoxins grows in the EAC, many farmers are adopting improved practices on crops saved for family consumption but not for market sale. New technologies may have the potential to transform the incentives for upgrading significantly reduce aflatoxin risks in domestic and regional trade. Lateral flow test kits can be used to measure aflatoxins without a laboratory setting and are known to produce very accurate results. Test strips have been around for many years but can now be machine-read using a smartphone or other mobile device...

Kenya's quest to go paperless and cashless in dispensation of public and private services come January, could unlock an additional Sh7.4 trillion into the economy in 10 years. A newly released report by strategy consulting firm AlphaBeta, which mostly concentrates on macroeconomic analysis and commissioned by IT firm Google found that sanctioning a trusted digital identity platform for all Kenyans will quadruple online commercial activities riding on a faceless and contactless platform. The financial sector will be the biggest beneficiary at Sh2.1 trillion, agriculture (Sh1.7 trillion), infrastructure (Sh1.5 trillion), resources (Sh400 billion) while other sectors will witness a Sh900 billion rise. Government's Sh800 billion revenue could largely be drawn from digital service tax as private sector players trading their goods and services online deduct a 1.5 percent tax form onward remission to the government. "Given the need to rebuild economies following the impact of Covid-19, the importance of capturing this potential digital dividend becomes ever more crucial. Kenya must expand use of the internet to do traditional business on a digital platform," it says. Dgital identity system The study says a government-backed digital identity system would also open never before seen business opportunities where companies could advertise and lease idle fixed assets from manufacturing lines, warehouses, vehicles and even personnel. The sharing economy has largely thrived on the services sector where rental and leasing businesses grow among them the controversial theatre and laboratory equipment leasing by public hospitals. Private entities have also been leasing out retail shelves, computers as well...

An official pact that could prevent trade tensions under the soon to be implemented Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is almost ready. This strategic initiative is under the auspices of the African Union and the International Trade Centre that seeks to make key recommendations on the various products and services that could be productive to respective African countries. This is expected to provide solutions to countries in an effort to avoid overlapping of export sector priorities as countries could potentially prioritize similar produce ahead of AfCFTA implementation next year January. Indeed, AfCFTA represents a major opportunity for countries to boost growth, reduce poverty, and broaden economic inclusion, this according to a World Bank report released this year. It added that if the agreement is fully implemented, the trade pact could boost regional income by 7 percent or US$450 billion, speed up wage growth for women, and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035. Instructively, industry analysts have indicated that the products and services that would be provided by countries under the agreement will be key to boost the expected regional income of US$450 billion. They have suggested that achieving these gains will be particularly important given the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is expected to cause up to US$79 billion in output losses in Africa by the end of 2020. Already, The pandemic has caused major disruptions to trade across the continent. Early this year, the Acting Executive Director of the ITC, Madam...

The Ministry of Health has deployed technical support staff to roll out the Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System at the Elegu Border post. Early this year, Elegu border became the epicentre of COVID-19 transmission in the country which was attributed to long-distance cargo truck drivers en-route to South Sudan. At least 600 trucks cross to neighbouring South Sudan every day. Launched in September, the tracking system is a mobile phone application that enables the issuance of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) digital certificates that are mutually recognized by the East Africa Community partner states. The tracker eliminates multiple testing and contributes to alleviating on-going congestion at the East Africa border crossing points. It also provides a surveillance system to monitor long-distance drivers and enables contact tracing. Ivan Kakire, the Regional Manager of Uganda Revenue Authority in charge of customs in Elegu says the reliance on manual certificates and delayed test results at the borders have caused unnecessary delays at the borders. Robert Oneka, the Medical Team leader in Elegu says their workload and unnecessary delays caused by the turnaround time for results have been reduced. He, however, noted that errant Ugandan drivers have remained defiant to tests. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine asserts that the system is expected to provide a common platform to be used by the health officials at the border to verify the jointly accepted digital COVID-19 certificates to aid regional movement within the East Africa bloc. Dr Atwine explains that...

Summary The Busia market is set to reduce post-harvest losses that often occur due to lack of storage facilities for fresh fruits, vegetables, and fish. Small cross-border traders, long the mainstay of communities straddling the border of Kenya and Uganda and once considered illegal by revenue agencies, will benefit from the construction of an open air market in Busia. The project is part a Ksh1.31 billion ($13.1 million) agreement signed between the government of Kenya and Trade Mark East Africa on November 3. The construction of the Busia Jumuia Cross-Border integrated market will be done jointly with Kenya’s Ministry of East African Community, on 40-acres of land that will hold a retail and wholesale section and a business hub. The retail section is expected to be ready by 2022, and will host at least 2,000 traders. It will also include all-weather stores, stalls, and cold rooms. The market will provide a channel through which the government and other partners can provide trade and market information to traders. “The construction of the Busia market will enhance cross border trade between Kenya and EAC partner states, improve livelihoods, structure trade, formalise informal trade$ and enhance revenue collection by improving the cross-border trading environment,” said Dr Kevit Desai, Kenya’s Principal Secretary, Ministry of EAC and Regional Development during the signing of the grant on November 3, 2020. “The retail section will have a capacity of 2,000 SMEs traders drawn from the Lake Region Economic Trading Bloc effectively linking their trade value chains destined...

Summary The system will stop the need for swapping of drivers at the Rusumo crossing at the border of Rwanda and Tanzania, which was taking between three to four days. Rwandan importers are banking on the use of GPS tracking system starting this month to address delays at the Rusumo border due to Covid-19 restrictions. The system will stop the need for swapping of drivers at the Rusumo crossing at the border of Rwanda and Tanzania, which was taking between three to four days. The system will monitor both trucks and drivers through their mobile phone for potential diversion or stops at non-designated locations as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 along the key import corridor. It is estimated that an average of 150 trucks and tankers use the corridor daily. “It was taking eight to 10 days of waiting at a quarantine centre for a vehicle to arrive at Kiyanzi and then between two to three days of waiting for a driver from Kigali,” said Moses Mayunga, a cargo driver with TransAfrica Transport and Logistics Ltd. The Rwanda transporters’ association head Abdou Ndaru said the system has reduced cargo waiting time at the border from two to three days to just four hours. LONGSTANDING IMPASSE The GPS tracking system will also solve a long-standing impasse between Rwanda and Tanzania over Covid-19 certificates. The impasse was disproportionately affecting Rwanda, which is a net importer from the region with over 60 per cent of its cargo coming through...

East African Community member states have up to five years to join the UK-Kenya trade agreement due to be signed ahead of the Brexit transitional deadline, officials privy to the draft text say. They added that the new document has also shielded budgetary cuts that had been imposed on the trade policy group Trade Mark East Africa's work in Kenya, allowing continued regional trade facilitation by the organisation. However, budgets for Rwanda, Ethiopia were cut by 15 percent, just lower than the initial 29 percent announced earlier in the year. It means that while Kenya negotiated solely, other East African countries could ride on the deal for the next few years as they figure out whether to enter, based on what parties called "transitional clauses." These transitional clauses, sources said, will allow other EAC member states to utilise what Kenya had agreed on with the UK, but could discuss variable new issues such as services trade, new technology, and research and innovation, which were lacking under the European Union Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The proposal was agreed to in principle last week as Nairobi closed the deal to save its exports from facing taxation in the UK market, once the transitional clauses under the EU expire. The UK had demanded a deal with all six East African Community member states, but other partners were reluctant to begin negotiations as Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi all faced elections this year with the rest preoccupied with Covid-19. Betty Maina, the Kenyan Trade Cabinet...

BRITAIN has assured the East African Community (EAC) that it will continue supporting and cooperating with the regional grouping despite its withdrawal from the European Union (EU) and the European Atomic Energy Community. Newly appointed British High Commissioner to Tanzania and the EAC Mr David Concar told EAC Secretary General, Liberat Mfumukeko that his appointment was an expression of the British government’s faith in the EAC Integration Project. He lauded the bloc for creating a sense of mutual confidence and stability among members states of the East African region. The good news comes as some EAC partner states like Burundi and Tanzania had peaceful elections while Uganda is also heading for the same. Britain is edging near Brexit from the European Union (EU) later this year. Mr Concar commended the EAC Secretariat for the good work that has led to the attainment of several achievements and promised his country’s commitment to continue supporting the integration process. The British envoy believes the bloc has an important role to play in promoting economic development and lifting East Africans out of poverty. Ambassador Mfumukeko hailed the strong relations existing between the EAC and Britain and commended the latter’s support to the EAC integration process. He shared the progress made by the EAC in the four pillars of integration; namely the Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political Federation. He added that the EAC had made great strides in the four pillars due to the political goodwill of its leaders and the support...