The East African Community (EAC) is under fire for non-integration of investments in its Information Technology (IT) sector, leading to higher costs. A host of organs and institutions of the regional organisation have continued to acquire and maintain IT applications independent of each other without being centrally done. This, according to the recently released report of the Committee of Accounts of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), has led to wastage of resources. “The systems are not integrated to share information between them and also with external critical systems such as the banking systems to ease transactions involving Electronic Funds Transfer,” it pointed out. Currently, the EAC headquarters in Arusha has over 17 IT systems, sourced through different development partners and managed by different departments, units and projects. The report cited there were $8,277,904 investments made by the Community in the IT equipment in 2016/17 financial year. However, the lawmakers claimed that the acquisition process was not transparent. “Management of IT investments or solutions was carried out by respective departments that acquired them without the IT department’s control,” stated the report, which was availed to The Citizen. The aforementioned money was spent on the purchase of the IT intangible assets and computer, and telecommunication equipment. It excluded expenditure related to maintenance, licensing and training. They noted without proper tracking and recording of the IT investments, the department may not be in a position to adequately assess the returns. “Without a structured IT investments approach strategy, it will be difficult for...

The East African passport is a recent electronic travel document that has replaced the ordinary country passport, as the minimum travel document required to travel around the world if you reside within East Africa. Well, the African Union has also unveiled plans to develop a continental passport that will bind all states with 1 passport. Through a joint decision that was recently pitched to the board in 2016, the African Union delegates have decided to venture into the union passport solution as the East African Community finalized on a joint electronic passport for Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and other member states. A single passport is one of the African Union goals mainly focused on making citizen movements easy and promoting cross-continent trade to fuel more economic growth throughout. As much as USA doubles as the biggest borderless country given the fact that many states were combined into 1, a successful single passport for Africa could be the first step towards making the black continent greatest in the world. According to the African Union chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the African passport projected design will be one of the key presentations during the 32nd AU summit later next month (Februay 2019). However, we are not sure whether the African passport will work in conjunction with the regional versions like the East African passport or it will be a superior version required for inland travels. Hence, we shall be encroaching on the presence of this yet to be unveiled passport with procedures of how you...

“You don’t negotiate with China !” I was quickly told when I started interviewing African public servants about their infrastructure deals with Beijing. There is a widespread view in Africa that you accept whatever terms are offered, for fear that the money might go somewhere else instead. China is the leading infrastructure finance provider on the continent – as demonstrated by a recent pledge of US$60 billion (£47 billion), most of which is for infrastructure projects. Big projects on the slate include hydropower plants in Angola and Guinea, an oil refinery in Nigeria, and a new city in Egypt. Yet, when you look closely at what happens on the ground, some African countries are much better at negotiating with the Chinese than others. Railway projects in East Africa appear to be a good example. In Kenya, the Standard Gauge Railway is the largest infrastructure project since independence from Britain in 1963. China Eximbank provided most of the finance for the first phase – 472 kilometres of track between Nairobi and Mombasa – at a cost of US$3.2 billion. In neighbouring Ethiopia, an electric train line from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, which is also Chinese-financed, opened two years ago. The cost for this more expensive type of railway was US$3.4 billion – for 756 kilometres. Kenya claims that its railway cost more for reasons like the terrain and the need to carry higher volumes of cargo. At the same time, however, many believe other issues to have been at play –...

KIGALI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on Sunday met with a delegation of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in Rwandan capital Kigali, discussing more agro-products exports to China. RDB and Alibaba seek to support Rwandan entrepreneurs to export more agro-products such as beef, crayfish, avocado, chili pepper, French bean, tree tomato, and other fruits and vegetables to China, by providing necessary infrastructure to boost agro-processing, lowering the cost of air-freight transport, providing more trainings to Rwandan entrepreneurs to enable them trade more product volumes and other ways, said a statement released by RDB. China presents a huge market for Rwanda, with its big population and increasing spending power, RDB CEO Claire Akamanzi said in the statement. RDB is exploring "unique and big" opportunities" of the Chinese market, she added. The delegation was in the central African country for the past week, meeting different government officials and private sector people, according to RDB. The visit was the follow-up of an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) agreement signed in October between the Rwandan government and Alibaba. The signing makes Rwanda the first African country that launches eWTP, proposed by Alibaba's Jack Ma with aims to promote public-private dialogue to foster a more effective and efficient policy and business environment to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in cross-border electronic trade. en.silkroad.news.cn

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa recorded a 3.6 per cent growth in foreign direct investment in 2017, even as inflows across Africa dropped. The Comesa Investment Trend 2018 report shows that FDI to the region increased from $18.6 billion in 2016 to $19.3 billion in 2017. This accounted for about 46 per cent of Africa’s FDI inflows. In contrast, the continent recorded a 21.4 per cent decline in FDI inflows, from $53.2 billion in 2016 to $41.8 billion in 2017, a trend attributed to weakening commodity prices. The trend was similar across the globe, with FDI inflows declining 23 per cent from $1.9 trillion to $1.4 trillion. Despite delays by most member states in ratifying the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), which seeks to create a 27-state trading bloc, Comesa is optimistic that FDI inflows will continue to increase, especially with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The TFTA is a free-trade agreement between Comesa, the Southern African Development Community and the East African Community. The AfCFTA will be the world’s largest bloc, expected to bring long-term gains of about $16 billion annually to the continent through the elimination of tariffs, free movement of people and goods. A total of 49 countries have signed the agreement and 12 have so far ratified it, with 22 ratifications needed by March 2019 to enable it to enter into force. Kenya was among the Comesa members who recorded an increase in FDI inflows, receiving $671.7 million,...

Kampala. Uganda exported more goods to Kenya than any other country in the East African region in the period running between January and September 2018. Exports to the country in the period under review stood at Ush1.5 trillion compared to Ush908.7 billion in 2017. The growth was driven by increased reliance on Uganda for maize supplies in the period under review. Tanzania’s exports to Kenya stood at Ush820 billion down from Ush768 billion while Rwanda exported goods worth Ush499 billion from Ush483 billion in the period. Uganda accounted for 70.36 per cent of the nearly 419,548 tonnes of Kenya’s maize imports, an equivalent of about 4.66 million 90-kilogramme bags, in the five months leading to May, according to data from Kenya Revenue Authority. However, imports from East Africa’s largest economy to Uganda were slightly higher standing at Ush1.7 trillion, a slight decrease from Ush1.73 trillion in 2017. Uganda has in the last five years decreased its trade deficit with Kenya, which at some point had stood at more than Ush500 billion. On the whole, the value of Kenya’s imports from neighbouring countries jumped by 42.64 per cent in nine months through September amid flat growth in exports. Kenyan traders trucked in goods worth Ush2 trillion within East Africa compared to Ush1.4 trillion in the same period in 2017. This was largely due to Kenya’s reliance on her neighbours for food supplies such as maize. Data collated by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, indicate imports from EAC countries increased by...

(Ecofin Agency) - Kenya’s exports to the USA reached a record level during Q3, 2018. According to Business Daily Africa, which cites Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics, the country exported products valued at Ksh14.23 billion to the USA during the period under review. This represents a rise by Ksh1.12 billion on a year to year basis and by Ksh1.77 billion compared to the value of products exported during Q2, 2018. For the USA, this rise also shows the success of the politics of the current president who favors bilateral exchanges over multilateral relations since this performance is achieved following the commercial agreement reached by the two countries in late June 2018. The exports were spurred by the textiles, which was the cause of disputes between Washington and East African countries in 2018. That year, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda stood against the imports of second-hand clothes from the USA. They expressed their will to end this trade to develop their local clothing industry. In view of the sanction threats brandished by the USA, all of these countries retracted except Rwanda which paid the price. Let’s note that the USA is now the leading destination for Kenya’s exports, ahead of Pakistan. Source Eco Finagency

Private equity (PE) deals in East Africa bounced back in 2018 after a seemingly tough year 2017, with 47 PE deals announced this year, up from 27 in the previous year, a report shows. The increase in PE deals is indicative of East Africa’s growing prominence as a private capital destination, in part driven by the stability of the region’s economies. During the year 2018, Kenya recorded the highest number of private equity investments made, with 24 transactions recorded compared to 18 in 2017. Uganda was second in terms of PE deals activity with a total of 6 deals recorded in 2018. Ethiopia, whose profile has been steadily rising amongst the investing community recorded 5 PE transactions for the year. Rwanda had two while Tanzania had one. “A relatively calm transition following the 2017 elections and the handshake by the leading parties’ political heads sent a strong signal on the country’s stability and reinforced investor confidence, resulting in the jump in deals done in 2018,” said Eva Warigia, Executive Director at the East Africa Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EAVCA), the trade organization for private equity and venture capital firms operating in East Africa. “Most of the investments had been in the pipeline during the election cycle waiting for the political tension to ease before conclusion,” Ms. Warigia added. Private equity investment activity during the year was spread across multiple sectors from education with an investment by Fanisi Capital in Kitengela Group off Schools, to healthcare in Tanzania with...

Tourism earnings grew 31.2 percent in 2018 to Sh157 billion, up from Sh119 billion the previous year. Last year's number of international arrivals was 2,025,206, compared to the 1,474,671 in 2017, an increase of 37.33 percent. SATISFACTORY A report from the Tourism ministry, released by Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala at State House Mombasa on Monday, stated that the number of local tourists in 2018 was 3,974,243, a 9.03 percent increase from the 3,645,243 in 2017. While receiving the sector performance report for 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta expressed satisfaction with the achievements, noting tourism contributes significantly to the economy. “As part of enhancing repeat visits, as well as recommending destination to visitors. Kenya currently has a total of 68 global hotel brands, a clear indication that the international community is confident of returns in investment in the tourism sector,” he said. President Kenyatta encouraged private sector players to refurbish their products and services in order to improve experiences. He also urged county governments to prioritise the packaging of tourism products by partnering with government experts in order to boost the sector. “Counties are key players and hosts of many tourism experiences. They should partner with government expert agencies, such as the Kenya Tourism Board \(KTB), and collaborate with neighbouring devolved units to enrich the existing tourism circuits." Concerning the Sh460 Mama Ngina Waterfront project, the president said it is critical as it will improve experiences - it was given a facelift so as to meet international standards. The project is expected...

NTERNATIONAL –  Kenya’s earnings from tourism jumped by almost a third in 2018 from the previous year to 157.4 billion shillings ($1.55 billion), after the number of visitors rose by 37 percent, the tourism ministry said on Monday. Just recently, the country also cut its revenue target for this fiscal year by 5 percent to 1.61 trillion shillings (R222bn), the second year in a row the East African nation is revising its tax goal downward. The Kenya Revenue Authority initially sought to raise 1.69 trillion shillings in the year through June 2019, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said in a notice in the official gazette. It collected 1.37 trillion shillings in the previous period, missing a twice-lowered target of 1.415 trillion shillings. Factors such as bleak corporate earnings and job cuts “collectively mean the overall economic activity gets cut, thus net collections are projected downward,” said Deepak Dave, founder of Nairobi-based Riverside Capital Advisory. Source www.iol.co.za