On May 31, 2018, the eve of the 55th anniversary of Madaraka Day, Kenya marked the first anniversary of the standard gauge railway (SGR), codenamed the Madaraka Express. President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Mombasa-Nairobi part of the project on November 28, 2013, and flagged off the maiden passenger and cargo trains a year ago, 18 months ahead of schedule. The Chinese dream meets the Kenya dream in the SGR and Madaraka Express, built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation with 90 per cent of the funding from the China Exim Bank and the remaining 10 per cent from Kenya. The SGR is a flagship project under Vision 2030 development agenda aimed at making Kenya a middle income country in the next 12 years. MADARAKA EXPRESS At another level, Madaraka Express reflects China’s “new deal for Africa”. It is also part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing’s development strategy that seeks to link and integrate humanity into one inter-connected community of shared future. Like the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the railway is Uhuru Kenyatta’s inerasable legacy. When completed, the line will run for a total of 3,200 kilometers (1,989 miles) from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean seaboard to Malaba on the Ugandan border, ultimately ending at the Atlantic Coast. With the Mombasa-Nairobi line (472 km) already completed, work on the Nairobi-Malaba section (520 km) is under way, expected to branch to Kisumu (174 km). Also forming part of this railway network are the proposed Nairobi-Moyale...

New ambassadors of Russia, United Arab Emirates and Tanzania who presented their letters of credence to President Kagame have pledged to strengthen the existing bilateral relations between Rwanda and the respective countries they present. The new envoys who briefed the media in Kigali yesterday, shortly after presenting their credentials included Hazza Mohammed Farah Kharsan Alqahtane, Ambassador of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Karen Chalyan, Ambassador of Russia, and Ernest Jumbe Mangu the High Commissioner of Tanzania, all who are resident in Kigali. UAE’s envoy said that his country is determined to enhance the relationship between his country and Rwanda in all aspects. “My main mission is to do whatever I can to develop relations with the government and the people of Rwanda,” he said. He lauded Rwanda for being a safe country with zero tolerance to corruption and hinted that this profile could attract tourists from his country to come and visit. “We will promote tourism to Rwanda. We have tens of thousands who spend their vacations in Europe and since Rwanda is one of the safest countries, this can be an attraction to our citizens,” he said. Ambassador Chalyan equally said that Rwanda and Russia want to further develop the existing cordial relations especially in areas of education, defence, and political affairs among others. “I have a very clear mandate to be as active as I can possibly be,” he said. Tanzania’s new High Commissioner to Rwanda said that he intends to promote more trade and movement of people. “We...

TradeMark Africa, has availed $4m (Shs14.9b) for the upgrade of key infrastructure connecting Uganda to South Sudan through Nimule. The money, which is expected to establish a One Stop Border Post at Nimule, will also seek to upgrade the road infrastructure between the two countries in about six months, which will in turn improve trade. Currently, it takes traders an average of three days to clear goods through the Nimule border post. Mr John Kalisa, the TradeMark Africa South Sudan country director, said in an interview that this is expected to promote transparency and accountability among the two respective countries and agencies operating at the borders.” The project, he said, also seeks to improve market access and fasten border processes that will lead to the elimination of non-tariff barrier. The Shs14.9b will be used to construct a parking yard, access roads, examination shed and drainage systems. Source: Daily Monitor

Bukoba — THE East African Community member states are poised to ratify laws to control the importation of inferior pharmaceutical and food products, says the Director of Medicines and Complimentary Products under the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA), Mr Adam Fimbo. " Tanzania was the first among EAC nations to have ratified the laws in controlling the safety, quality and effectiveness of food, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices," he disclosed. Other EAC nation will soon follow suit, he added. "Upon completion of this exercise we shall have uniform standards," he said. Mr Fimbo made the remarks recently during a meeting between TFDA officials and representatives of different media outlets from Kagera and Geita regions, as part of enlightening the people in the Lake Zone. He also revealed that TFDA had plans to install special mini-testing labs in all 32 entry points in seven zones to ensure consumers were safe and the market was free of inferior drugs, foods and diagnostics. Various strategies have been put in place that would maintain strict and timely testing of the products with state-of- the art laboratory stationed in Mwanza City as the headquarters in the Lake Zone area comprising six regions-Simiyu, Kagera, Mwanza, Geita, Shinyanga and Mara. He cited, for instance, that the Post Marketing Surveillance programmes (PMS), which between January and March this year, had handled 594 samples of human drugs it collected and tested and found that 96 per cent of them met the required standards. He urged the media to...

A new fund targeting women-led businesses in Africa will invest up to $500 million over the next decade to increase their participation in investment. The African Women’s Leadership Fund is a brainchild of the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (Uneca), UN Women, the African Union Commission and the African Women Leadership Network. Uneca executive secretary Vera Songwe said that the Fund’s sponsors hope to address a significant gender imbalance in finance and investment. “Women are less represented in many organisations and very few are leaders. This in turn makes them less represented in key decision-making for the continent,” said Ms Songwe. In Africa, only five per cent of chief executives are women; 18 per cent of businesses lack women in senior roles; only 29 per cent are senior managers while 44 per cent of women hold line roles, a 2016 report by Mackinsey & Company notes. The fund’s strategy is to ensure that at least 65 per cent of its investment capital reaches women entrepreneurs and women-led companies. The rest — 35 per cent — will go to technical assistance in the form of capacity building, leadership training, mentorship and business development. The fund hopes to find emerging women managers who will eventually serve as examples of the potential that they and their peers could have if given the support they need. The fund covers each of the continent’s five regions — North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa — and will evolve over time...

All consolidated cargo will be subjected to mandatory inspection in the country of supply starting tomorrow in a move aimed at weeding out substandard goods, the taxman and the bureau of standards has announced. In a statement Thursday, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) warned cargo consolidators and the general public that all cargo arriving into the country without a certificate of inspection shall not be allowed into the country. Consolidated cargo refers to a wide range of products or general merchandise imported in small quantities or parcels belonging to several traders who have pooled or assembled together with their parcels to form one consignment. “We wish to inform cargo consolidators and the general public that all consolidated cargo shall be subjected to mandatory in the country of supply starting June 1. “All cargo consolidators who applied for registration and fulfilled the requirements for registration are advised to contact Kebs for their provisional registration certificate by May 31, to facilitate inspection of their cargo under route D of Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programme,” said the notice. Last month notice Kebs issued a notice last month to all importers of consolidated cargo for both air and sea to register with the agency to have their goods inspected under a new procedure created in 2005 by the standards agency and KRA. The new procedure, which has seen 20 firms approved to import as consolidators, targets cargo containing a wide range of products. It also targets...

Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), farmers’ representatives and civil society organisations have called for adequate budget towards agriculture sector so as to reduce huge food imports incurred by East African countries. The call was made on Wednesday in Nairobi Kenya, during the opening of 3rd EAC agriculture Budget Summit. The summit is being held under the theme; “Promoting an Inclusive, People-Centred EAC Budget Process: Incentives for Prudent Public and Private Investment in Agriculture”. Speaking during the event, Mathias Kasamba, the chairperson of agriculture, tourism and natural resources committee at EALA said: “If we consider how much food EAC countries import and money spent on it, you will realise some of these countries are becoming net food importers. We need to improve quantity and quality of food in EAC countries. He said that in order for Africa to adequately feed its population for over 170 million population, there is need of quick implementation of commitments to agricultural transformation set up by African Union. According to Jean Baptiste Havugimana, the director of productive sectors at EAC secretariat the regional agricultural investment plan for 2017-2025, seeks to ensure the region feeds itself and even export. In order to achieve the plan, experts said, there is need of more efforts by member states to domesticate the Malabo declarations on agricultural transformation into national agricultural investments plans which fit into annual national budget. Malabo Declarations were adopted in June 2014 in Equatorial Guinee by the African Union Heads of State following the...

Dodoma. The government is engaging the financial sector in a bid to accelerate financing for industries-led economic growth, which is expected to transform Tanzania into a middle income country come 2025. This comes at a time when Bank of Tanzania (BoT) figures show that the manufacturing sector – which is meant to spur the country’s industrialisation dream – accounts for only 11 per cent of commercial banks’ total loans to various economic activities. The rate compares poorly with 27.2 per cent and 20.7 per cent for personal and trade activities respectively. In a deliberate move to see the commercial banks play an increasingly important role in the advancement of an industrialised Tanzania, the Ministry of Finance and Planning convened a workshop here yesterday that brought together financial sector regulators and stakeholders from insurance, capital markets, banks and microfinance institutions. The private and government institutions’ officials held a conversation over how they would play theie role in the much-touted industrialisation. Government officials highlighted areas they said were not yet well addressed and gave assurance that the political commitment, which normally determines the economic base of a country, was available. “I hope you will come up with strategies that prioritise financing industrial development through creative products,” said the Bank of Tanzania governor, Prof Florens Luoga, who read the opening speech on behalf of Finance minister Philip Mpango. “You must also discuss why agricultural insurance does not exist in Tanzania, why there is high cost of borrowing and why only a small percentage of...

Dodoma. The government has explained how it attracts industrial investment including by ensuring peace and security in the country.  Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Mr Anthony Mavunde told the National Assembly on Wednesday that the government has been removing some legal barriers by reviewing laws and policies governing investment.  Mr Mavunde was responding to a question asked by Ms Rukia Ahmed (Special Seats -CCM) on behalf of the Industry, Trade and Investment minister Charles Mwijage.  Ms Ahmed asked what the government has in its plans to attract industrial investment touted by the government.  Mr Mavunde also added that the government created enabling infrastructure and making information and data about Tanzania's investment opportunities available. "We have Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), embassies and local governments which all help inviting investors," he said.  Source: The Citizen

Dar es Salaam. CEOs in Tanzania believe that business growth in the next three years will be “modest” due to some unresolved challenges, The Citizen has learnt. This was revealed yesterday during the unveiling of an East African CEO outlook covering Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. At regional level, according to the report, 92 per cent of East African CEOs are “very confident” about their companies’ growth prospects in the next three years. “This position on the growth of our businesses can be attributed to a practical appreciation of the challenges impeding businesses even as they project modest growth,” warned KPMG Tanzania partner Vincent Onjala. They include threats such as emerging technology, operational risks and policy unpredictability. Mr Onjala said advances in technology have been swift, and some companies were unable to keep up. Going by the findings, only one in ten Tanzanian CEOs reported being prepared for a cyber attack, although half are positive that they are able to contain the impact of an attack on strategic operations. Kenyan CEOs are more confident, as seven in ten believe they can contain the impact of an attack on strategic operations. Ugandan CEOs, on the other hand, are slightly less confident at two in ten. “But the good thing is that CEOs in Tanzania believe that digital transformation is going to be critical. They are now taking it as a personal agenda for them to transform their businesses,” Mr Onjala told The Citizen. KPMG Tanzania managing partner Salim Bashir said CEOs believe...