Tanzania Roads Agency (TANROADS) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer Patric Mfugale, speaking to the Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, Professor Makame Mbarawa during his tour of the project, said: “Our experts are currently working on the preliminary design of the road...but the anticipated contractor will go through it and come up with the actual design.” He pointed out that the project cost and duration will be determined by the design and currently, the road repairs are on progress to ensure sustainability of the road upon its completion. “Repairs have started for bridges with culverts being placed at the bridge situated at Kibanda cha Mkaa area, which was badly affected by the ongoing rains some few days ago. The expansion is crucial for the country and the East-Central Africa because the road is used to transport goods from the Dar es Salaam port to other neighbouring said the CEO. He said demolitions had already been carried out from Kimara to Kiluvya and that a service road will be constructed. Prof Mbarawa observed that the government will ensure all roads are easily passable 24 hours, a week, pointing out that the six-lane road will help to decongest the heavily jammed road. “Construction of the service road will ease traffic jams and serve as a lasting solution to many hours spent on the roads,” said Prof Mbarawa. According to the Minister, the demolition complied with the law that has existed since the 1930s. To some areas, the road reserve covers 120 metres...

The bill comes to replace a decree existing since 1980. The later presents some deficiencies as it has never been updated. The General Director of Pharmacies, Laboratory and Medicine, Emmanuel Bamenyekanye says Burundi has to adopt the pharmaceutical bill as agreed between the States of the East African Community to harmonise national laws for better medicine regulation; as stated in Article 118, chapter 21. “The EAC council of ministers has urged all the EAC partner states to review, update, strengthen and harmonise national pharmaceutical laws”, he says. Bamenyekanye says the bill will bring innovation once adopted as it is adapted to the time and realities of the moment to strengthen medicine regulation in Burundi. “The existing decree has become out-dated. It is not adapted to meet today’s realities. This bill will help to regulate medicine standards once adopted,” he says. He also says the decree dating from 1980 has gaps as there is a big difference between the way of life between 1980 and 2017. “In 1980, people ate healthy and natural food. There was no internet and there were very few factories making medicines…there is a need to update them,” he says. He says there is going to be a new regulatory authority of medicine and food which will operate in accordance with the bill to be approved in order to enforce the medicine regulation. “The authority will focus on the drug quality, effects, and the prices to improve health quality. It will help the population to get high...

East African Civil Society Organizations' Forum (EACSOF) in collaboration with ActionAid's Global Platform will next week launch a three-year project for advocating African Charter. The project, among others, will mobilise the East African Civil Societies (CSOS) to support African Governance Architecture (Aga) through advocating for implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) within the region. The African Union (AU) adopted the ACDEG in January 2007 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to promote democracy, rule of law and basic human rights, ensure democratic rule and constitutional changes of power through free, fair and transparent elections. Slated for December 11, 2017, at the East African community (EAC) Headquarters in Arusha, the grand inauguration of the project, will go alongside with three-day regional workshop, to create awareness to youth, journalists and civil society organisations. EACSOF acting chief executive officer Martha Makenge told journalists in Arusha that the EA regional youth workshop will ponder, among others, the Aga, which is the overall continental framework for promoting, nurturing, strengthening and consolidating democracy and governance in Africa. The workshop will focus on six broad areas such as understanding Aga and ACDEG, youth activism in East Africa, enhancing Youth Leadership skills through efficient leadership and facilitation skills processes. It will also cover campaign planning by developing youth critical pathway, tools for mobilisation, organising and engagement strategies and skills via creative activism and non-violent actions. "Public action based on the baseline to raise awareness on the Aga and advocate to the government to ratify, implement,...

As the UK calls time on its 44 year membership of the European Union (EU), repercussions are felt further afield. African countries which currently access the EU via the UK, such as Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, or have the UK as their main end market within the EU will be exposed when the UK ceases to be an EU Member State. The impact will be different according to trade patterns: for example, Francophone countries that traditionally trade more with EU countries other than the UK will be less affected than those whose main EU trading partner is the UK. However, there are signs that the UK is keen to preserve and promote trade with Africa. In June 2017, the UK published its trade policy in relation to developing countries and in July 2017, the Minister for Trade Policy, Lord Price, visited South Africa and Namibia and met with ministers from the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) and Mozambique to discuss maintaining the existing trading relationship. There have also been recent official visits to The Gambia and Ghana. Meanwhile, the depreciation in value of the pound relative to major currencies since the Brexit vote, is negatively affecting value for companies in Africa with revenues and reserves in sterling and may lead to companies converting reserves into US Dollars. RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF BREXIT Terms of trade The UK's notice to leave the EU expires end March 2019, but the terms of leaving remain the subject of negotiation. The UK...

December 6th, 2017 – Norway on Wednesday December 6th granted 50 million Norwegian Kroners (equivalent to 13.4 billion Tanzanian shillings) to TradeMark Africa (TMA) to support its work in enhancing trade across the East African Community to increase prosperity in the region. The agreement was signed by the Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania, Her Excellency Hanne-Marie Kaarstad and Ali Mufuruki, Board Chair of TradeMark Africa. Witnessing the signing was the Head of Cooperation at the Norwegian Embassy, Trygve Bendiksby and John Ulanga, Country Director, TMA Tanzania. Norway’s strategy for development cooperation and action plan for aid for trade put more emphasis on the development of trade and regional economic integration. The Norwegian government believes that supporting increased trade in the region in combination with assistance to the private sector will accelerate economic growth and jobs, with the goal of poverty reduction. Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania, HE Hanne-Marie Kaarstad said: “TradeMark Africa is a new partner of the Norwegian Embassy. Over the last six years, the Embassy has watched with great interest as TradeMark Africa has carried out its important and challenging work. With ambitious goals and large programmes in six East African countries, TradeMark Africa has taken on the task of breaking down barriers to trade in the region. The results that TradeMark Africa have delivered so far are impressive. We look forward to be an active partner.” TradeMark Africa is making a huge difference to reducing the high barriers to trade in East Africa.Since starting its operations in Tanzania in...

Employers have welcomed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Tuesday announcement that Kenya is opening its borders to Africans, arguing it is a step in the right direction. Mr Kenyatta announced, shortly after he was sworn in for a second term, that any African wishing to visit Kenya will be eligible to get a visa on arrival. Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) executive director Jacqueline Mugo said that aside from making movement easier, issuance of visas on arrival will save costs and time. “This is a positive thing and is exactly what we have been asking for in order to enable Africa present itself to the world as one market,” she said. The rise of economic emigrants, security and sovereignty are among the reasons countries introduced travel visas as it enables immigration authorities to vet applicants. Director of Immigration, Maj Gen (Rtd) Gordon Kihalangwa said he could not give an authoritative analysis of the Executive directive at the moment. “At the point of making this directive, a lot of thought had gone into it, but we need to look at it closely and come up with the modalities of how it shall work,” he said. Kenya is currently grappling with drug trafficking and the terrorism menace, which some fear could escalate with the blanket opening up of the borders. Mr Kihalangwa noted that incoming visitors will still be vetted to ensure only well-meaning people get into the country. Currently, only 13 out of 55 countries in Africa have allowed liberal entry - described...

For decades, Kenya and other African countries have overly tended to spend much of their political and diplomatic capital engaging countries located far from their borders, particularly the former colonial masters. As a matter of fact, Africans treat their peers with inexplicable disdain and hostility. Little wonder that it is sometimes easier to communicate or trade with someone located in Europe or Asia than on the continent. While much of that is informed by a colonial legacy that should have — with conscious effort — been eradicated, the situation persists. Granted, some trading and economic blocs have put effort to address this structural anomaly, but we are not there yet. The East African Community (EAC) has generally done a commendable job though. For instance, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have continued to open their capital markets to EAC members. Tanzania, albeit belatedly, has followed suit. This will help listed companies in the bloc easily raise capital as well as allow investors, including pension funds to diversify portfolios and make some cash. On Tuesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta during his second-term swearing in borrowed a leaf from Rwandan head of state Paul Kagame and allowed Africans coming to Kenya to be issued with visas at the point of entry. While this looks like an obvious step to take, it will have a lot of implications. For one, it can ease domestic tourism that should act as stabiliser for the fragile tourism industry. Besides, trading between the continent’s economies that has by and large...

Employers have welcomed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Tuesday announcement that Kenya is opening its borders to Africans, arguing it is a step in the right direction. Mr Kenyatta announced, shortly after he was sworn in for a second term, that any African wishing to visit Kenya will be eligible to get a visa on arrival. Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) executive director Jacqueline Mugo said that aside from making movement easier, issuance of visas on arrival will save costs and time. “This is a positive thing and is exactly what we have been asking for in order to enable Africa present itself to the world as one market,” she said. The rise of economic emigrants, security and sovereignty are among the reasons countries introduced travel visas as it enables immigration authorities to vet applicants. Director of Immigration, Maj Gen (Rtd) Gordon Kihalangwa said he could not give an authoritative analysis of the Executive directive at the moment. “At the point of making this directive, a lot of thought had gone into it, but we need to look at it closely and come up with the modalities of how it shall work,” he said. Kenya is currently grappling with drug trafficking and the terrorism menace, which some fear could escalate with the blanket opening up of the borders. Mr Kihalangwa noted that incoming visitors will still be vetted to ensure only well-meaning people get into the country. Currently, only 13 out of 55 countries in Africa have allowed liberal entry - described...

Source: News Times

The Port of Mombasa has been declared the best transit and supply logistics Port in Eastern and Southern Africa. In a colourful African Ports Awards ceremony held on Thursday in held in Livingston, Zambia on Thursday, The Port of Mombasa managed by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) also emerged second runners up in the category of best container terminal productivity after South Africa’s Port of Durban and Port of Ngqura respectively. In this category, the Ports of Durban and East London under the Transnet National Ports Authority of South Africa took position two and three respectively in a hotly contested competition that featured 12 Ports from the region. Speaking while receiving the award on behalf of the Authority after a two-day Port Management of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA) investment forum and annual conference in Zambia, KPA Managing Director Mrs. Catherine Mturi-Wairi expressed delight for the award. The award comes after the Port of Mombasa was recently named, for the third year in a row, the best cruise Port in Africa by the World Travel Awards. South Africa’s Ports under Transnet National Ports Authority scooped most of the awards with all their four major commercial Ports featuring in the competition. Besides winning in the category of best container terminal in productivity, the Port of Durban also emerged leader in transshipment as well as best facility in management information system in the competition where entries for the award were coordinated and evaluated by CODEX African Ports Awards Consultant Company based in Abidjan, Ivory...