Cabinet has approved the creation of East African Regional Roads Authority Forum (EARRAF) which will look into issues regarding roads construction costs and quality. EARRAF will mainly focus on the development of quality of design, standards and valuation costs of transnational roads across East Africa. The authority is expected to provide a platform for agencies mandated in the implementation and management of roads like KURA, KenHA, the Kenya Roads Board in Kenya, KeRRA, Uganda National Roads Authority and Tanzania National Roads Agency along with others for harmonization of road infrastructure in the region in terms of design, costing and standards. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said in a statement after the meeting on Thursday, “EARRAF will bring together agencies responsible for the implementation and management of road infrastructure in the region.” EARRAF will work closely with management bodies from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The cabinet meeting was chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Deputy President William Ruto and cabinet secretaries also attended the meeting. The cabinet too approved mid-term budget for 2019/2020 financial year. Source Standard Media

Pressure is piling on Kenya to open its electronic revenue (Simba) system to East African clearing agents almost five years since it invited customs officers from the region to operate at the port of Mombasa. Traders from other member States have launched the complaint with the EAC Council of Ministers, accusing the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) of delaying cargo clearance by denying their agents access to its Simba system. Under Kenyan laws, however, clearing agents can only gain access to the taxman’s e-platform if they are registered by the KRA as domestic operators. “We have opened our systems in the interest of free trade but our agents don’t get the same treatment in Kenya,” Mr Alex Mujeru, Rwanda Revenue Authority’s deputy Commissioner told journalists in Kigali during a media tour. “I know this matter is being handled by the ministers even though Rwanda has not specifically demanded reciprocal treatment for its agents in Kenya.” The region began implementing the single customs territory in 2013, taking up a revenue collection model in which taxes on imports are declared and paid at the first port of entry into East Africa. Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi have since stationed their customs officials in Mombasa even though Kenya is yet to send its officers to the port of Dar. Traders say the presence of region's customs officers in Kenya has not increased efficiency as EAC agents still have to nominate Kenyans to facilitate clearance via the Simba system. To act for other EAC agents,...

Kisumu International Airport, has recorded much-improved traffic of over 32 flights per day with reduced affordable air tickets that have made customers enjoy an enhanced competition by airlines. This is an indication of increased activity and passenger traffic between Kisumu and Nairobi and Mombasa. While Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Mombasa’s Moi International Airport are ‘international’ in their true sense, meaning serving regional and international destinations, Kisumu has not yet been elevated to this status. Early this month, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said it also has plans to shift the miraa transportation and cargo from JKIA to Isiolo International Airport, which will be serving the Somalia market. The implementation of the international status can greatly enhance the logistics, trade and tourism of Kisumu. As it is, Kisumu serves the whole Western Kenya and South Rift Region. The recent major milestone was in regards to a direct flight from Kisumu to Mombasa. With an increased investment in road network and infrastructure in the region, especially the Sirare-Ahero Road among others, transportation, logistics and warehousing opportunities have great potential. In recent times, the hospitality industry has expanded with increased openings and investment in infrastructure. Investment in hotels and transport has been on an upward trend and visitors no longer lack better accommodation. In addition, the county governments along the lake have increasingly mapped out the tourist sites, national parks and game reserves. As of the six months to June 2018, imports from Uganda, already stood at Sh30.2 billion. Kenya’s exports...

NAIROBI, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment of a regional roads authorities forum as part of efforts to harmonize road infrastructure in the East Africa region. The cabinet, which was chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, said the establishment of the Eastern Africa Regional Roads Authorities Forum (EARRAF) will provide a platform for the harmonization of road infrastructure in East Africa, especially transnational roads in terms of design, standards and costing. "EARRAF will bring together agencies responsible for the implementation and management of road infrastructure in the region," Kenyatta's office said in a statement issued after the cabinet meeting in Nairobi. It said road management bodies of countries including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will be brought together. Source Xinhuanet

Arusha. The six member countries of the East African Community (EAC) are considering changes to their respective immigration rules. This development comes almost eight years after a deal that was meant to recognise post-training certificates issued by the member countries failed to boost cross-border movement of professionals as originally intended. Established as an economic bloc that aimed at leading to, and result in, regional economic integration and, finally, a fully-fledged East African Federation, the community is currently made up of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. In the event, the six countries are contemplating functional regulatory and other frameworks that would not only allow, but also enable, professionals who are nationals of the EAC member countries to freely move across the common borders to engage in employment, research and related activities in countries of their choice. Noting that several measures had already been taken to achieve the common objective of facilitating cross-border exchange of labour and services, officials at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha said that the measures had nonetheless largely failed in that objective. These include the Common Market Protocol, put in place in 2010 to allow the free movement of Labour/Workers, Persons, Services, Goods and Capital, as well as the Rights of Establishment and Residence. “We are working on a regulatory framework that recognises temporary movement of labour so as to enable professionals who (for example) want to relocate for just a few days to complete their projects,” said the EAC principal education officer, Dr James...

Container deliveries from the port of Mombasa by road last week surpassed those evacuated by the Standard Gauge Railway freight service. Some 6,519 twenty foot equivalent (TEUs) were transported by road compared to 4,494 TEUs on the railway. Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has reported in its latest bulletin that 7,221 TEUs (empty) were loaded on ships for export compared to 3,924 TEUs (full). It is unclear why road haulage accounted for the greater fraction of cargo from Nairobi and the statistics provided by KPA do not involve a month-by-month comparison between rail and road transport. However, haulage by the train service has been beset by storage problems at the Inland Container Depot in Embakasi, Nairobi. Last week's announcement of a 14-day waiver for storage charges for long stay containers at the port and the depot in Nairobi was welcomed by importers. "The announcement was meant to entice importers to pick up their cargo which was fast approaching capacity," KPA said in a statement. It said the Mombasa container terminals had received 10,816 TEUs imports by September 26. "The inland container depot in Nairobi had recorded 4,285 TEUs imports after delivering another 4,227 TEUs, leaving a balance of 10,221 TEUs," KPA added. The depot received 241 TEUs exports, delivered another 265 TEUs leaving a balance of 72 TEUs. A total of 1,642 TEUs (empty) were received in Nairobi while 1,379 TEUs were delivered, leaving a balance of 828 TEUs. Import container population breakdown at the port showed that locally-bound containers recorded...

Business experts have challenged the African youth, the continent’s biggest market, to consume products made in Africa if the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) Agreement is to be successfully implemented. According to some leading African entrepreneurs, trade and business experts, the profile of African products will be enhanced once Africans place them on top of their preferential list. The push for “Made in Africa First” came to the fore during a panel discussion on CFTA at the ongoing Youth Connekt Africa Summit in Kigali. The conversation sought to explore the benefits of the historic CFTA deal that was signed by African Heads of State and Government in Kigali early this year. “Right now, CFTA is at the signing phase and then ratification phase will follow. But after that, the actual challenge is about implementing,” said Issam Chleuh, Managing Director of Suguba Ltd. The Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) has similar trading arrangements, he said, yet it is still difficult to move goods between the member states because the existing laws are not enforceable. “We need to have a consumer mindset shift. If today Africans decided that we are going to consume Made-in-Africa before anything thing else, it would be one big way to push African products to a desired level,” Chleuh added. Chleuh’s assertion resonated with what was said by Rwanda’s Prime Minister. About 70 per cent of Africa’s population is under the age of 30, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente said, suggesting that with Africa’s population projected to double by...

Fourteen years since the East African Community's Customs Union became operational, the Community has postponed the thrice the date of its full implementation. The region was expected to achieve full implementation of the Customs Union in 2010, but has postponed the deadline indefinitely as issues such as the harmonisation of internal and joint collection of taxes are yet to be thrashed out. Subash Patel, chairman of the Confederation of Tanzanian Industries, says that even though the Common External Tariff had been fully achieved, partner states are now choosing to go it alone because of slow implementation at the regional level. He cites the case of Uganda and Kenya, which have gone ahead and implemented the 35 per cent external tariff on steel products to protect their industries. Tanzania, on the other hand, has failed to do so, something that Mr Patel says is hampering the growth of its steel industry, as substandard and cheaper steel products from Asia flood the market. In its current form, experts say, the EAC Customs Union is benefiting a handful of people in the region and a larger number in India and China. This is out of sync with the premise that EAC integration is pro-East Africans. Currently Customs Union implementation benefits politically connected traders importing goods into the EAC. Nicholas Nesbit, chairman the East African Business Council, says the increase in imports and policies whose net effect is keeping East Africans in poverty can be blamed on partner states ignoring the voices of manufacturers...

East African Community member states will be racing against time to operationalise a single currency regime to eliminate exchange rate risks, boost trade and investment in the region and read from the same page of financial and economic policies. The establishment of a common currency regime constitutes the third pillar of the EAC integration, after the Customs Union and the Common Market, with political federation concluding the integration. The protocol for the establishment of the East African Monetary Union (EAMU) was signed in November, 2013 by the EAC member states, setting up a roadmap for a Monetary Union within 10 years, implying that a Single Currency regime should be up and running by the year 2024. EAC member country therefore has six years to implement a single currency regime and three years to comply with key macro-economic convergence criteria on inflation, fiscal deficits, forex reserves and public debt. The EastAfrican has however learnt that while the partner states have made some significant progress in laying the ground work for the Single Currency regime, there is still more work to be done. Community technical teams need to burn the midnight oils to realise the dream of a Monetary Union which also provides for the establishment of a single Central Bank for the region. It has emerged that while member countries are struggling to meet the macro-economic convergence criteria, the critical pieces of legislations required to set up Monetary Union institutions are yet to be put in place. The EastAfrican has learnt...

Nearly two decades after the region’s leaders signed on to the revival of the East African Community, progress on integration remains a case of one step forward, two steps back. The past 10 years or so have been particularly significant, having witnessed the geographical expansion of the Community from the initial three members to six, with a combined market of some 150 million people. Although it has been the cause of unease that threatened several initiatives, a Common External Tariff has for years brought predictability to the region’s external trade and given key sectors a level of protection across national borders. But that is as far as the good news goes. While the Common Market Protocol promised much, delivery has been staggered as the partner states employ different tactics to circumvent the more uncomfortable of its provisions. The result has been a disjointed Community where five of the member states have harmonised their financial year while one still holds out. Citizens can enjoy harmonised calling rates while roaming through four of the states, while they bleed money just to receive calls while transiting through the other two. Firms cannot deploy staff to Tanzania for short-term technical work, since Dar insists on a work permit. Citizens from elsewhere in the region cannot register businesses in Kenya and Tanzania without entering into partnerships with locals. Ugandan traders are for instance required to pay for a visa before they can engage in any business in Tanzania. Citizens from other member states have to...