Customs agencies, globally, are facing the emerging dilemma of balancing demands to improve trade facilitation while at the same time meeting increasing needs for compliance. They are under pressure to deliver customer-focused services, collect accurate revenues and prevent illegal trade within the constraints of limited resources. This calls for modernisation of customs administration to deliver agility, accuracy, security, and transparency using systems that are empowering rather than restrictive. It is for this reason that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is implementing the Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS). This system consolidates all the existing customs systems into one modern, robust and more efficient system built on the latest technology with capability of seamlessly interfacing with other internal and external systems as need arises. The system is bound to be a game-changer in customs processing as it will align operations with international best practices and improve the ease of doing business not only in Kenya but also the in East African Community (EAC). In line with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) requirement for the simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures, iCMS promises to further simplify and optimise customs processes. The changes involve coming up with a new system that incorporates all the subsystems built around the main clearance system as well newly defined functionalities. The current customs system, Simba 2005/2014, runs on a multiplicity of sub-systems and requires multiple points of authentication for users hence sometimes takes more time. But with the new system, it is envisioned that clearance time for...

Trial runs for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) freight train that were scheduled to start next month could be delayed by the uncertainties posed by the looming repeat presidential election. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said in an interview that although the Chinese contractor was committed to adhering to the project’s timelines, they had expressed reservations about the volatile political environment in the country in the run up to the October 17 polls. “As Government, we are ready to start the trials for the freight train. The trials should begin in October and end in December as we look forward to commencing full freight train operations in January 2018. However, we have to address the concerns of our partners first before we can start the trials,” said Mr Macharia. Trial runs for the SGR freight train are scheduled to start on October 31 while full commercial services will kick off in January next year. Complicated matters A ruling by the Supreme Court annulling the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta last month has thrown the country back into political limbo, with most investors assuming a wait-and-see attitude. The private sector in its post-election analysis termed August the ‘worst’ month in four years, with the country having come to a near-standstill due to a heightened political environment that saw the Opposition challenge the presidential polls outcome in court, leading to the repeat election. China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the company tasked with the initial construction of the railway and also runs...

The team is led by the authority’s Board Chairman, Engineer Christopher Chiza and includes the TanTrad Acting Managing Director, Mr Edwin Rutageruka. The team was received by its host, the Regional Commissioner (RC), Retired Brigadier General Emmanuel Maganga, who thanked the authority for prioritising Kigoma Region. The two parties held talks before touring various parts of the region. “We thank you for choosing our region to be the first region for implementing your pledge. We shall offer you maximum co-operation,” he pledged. The RC said the region has many investment and trade opportunities, dismissing the contention that the region is and must remain poor. “I am always irritated by this argument because there is no empirical evidence to support it. People here work hard and there are many potential prospects for sustainable internal and external trade,” he said, adding the region will designate land for a regional trade fair and investments based on TanTrade’s recommendations. Brig. Gen. Maganga called on young people in the region to take advantage of the opportunities being exposed to them and work hard for their own prosperity and the region. Mr Chiza said the team was examining border trade and investment opportunities in the region. He said cassava and palm trees thrive in Kigoma, explaining that the two crops could help the region have a strong economy if they were seriously developed and processed with the aim of expanding the potential internal and external markets. “There is a ready market in the Democratic Republic of...

THE National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB) has started a countrywide campaign to boost coffee production and consumption. The new campaign is part of the 2017 Rwanda Coffee day, which is being held under the theme “Gusangira kawa y’u Rwanda tubigire Umuco Iwacu!” It is also part of the strategies to promote Made in Rwanda campaign aimed at boosting local production. According to Dr. Celestin Gatarayiha, the head of the coffee division at NAEB, sensitising farmers to embrace good agricultural and post-harvest practices will increase productivity and enhance coffee quality. Garayiha added that the top priority is promoting local consumption of coffee as well as establishing value addition businesses in order to increase access to coffee beverage across the country. Meanwhile, sector experts have called for more efforts to address the mindset of people who think drinking coffee is a foreign culture, not for Rwandans. About 99 per cent of coffee produced in Rwanda is consumed abroad leaving only 1 per cent for locals. In a recent interview with The New Times, Jose Kawashima, the representative director and president of All for Coffee Limited, a Japan-based global coffee company, said its imperative for Rwanda to boost its local market for homegrown coffee as an alternative to the growing   global   coffee market competition. NAEB has been emphasizing value addition and encouraging farmers and co-operatives to take advantage of coffee washing stations to enhance quality. Coffee is a key export crop of Rwanda and has contributed an average of 24 per cent to total agricultural exports...

The Mombasa port registered an 11.9 per cent growth in the cargo it handled in the first six months of this year, according to new Kenya Ports Authority data. The port management in a report released on Tuesday credited the growth to recent expansion activities, including the construction of a second container terminal last year. The terminal was put up at a cost of $300 million (Sh30.9 billion) and is 900 metres long with three docking berths. It provides an additional cargo-handling capacity of 550,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually. According to the report, the port handled 15 million tonnes of cargo between January and June compared with 13.4 million tonnes in the same period last year. “During the first six months of 2017, imports accounted for 12.7 million tonnes against 11.3 million handled in the same 2016 period, an increase of 12 per cent. The port again handled 1.87 million tonnes in exports, up 0.5 per cent on the 1.86 million tonnes handled in the same period last year,” said KPA. Despite election uncertainties that have previously seen countries in the hinterland take a more cautious approach while importing through the Mombasa port, KPA said none of them scaled down their operations in the run-up to the August 8 polls. The countries that import their cargo through the port of Mombasa include Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the first week alone after the Supreme Court made its historic ruling, KPA said...

China’s One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR) was launched in 2013. It is designed to improve trade infrastructure beyond China’s borders in Asia and Europe. It is often overlooked, however, that OBOR also involves projects in Africa. In regard to major investments there, Julia Breuer of Ruhr-University Bochum suggests it would be more accurate to speak of “two” belts. Hotspots of Chinese infrastructure development in East Africa are Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola. In May 2017, the 472 kilometre standard gauge railway (SGR) link between the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Kenya’s  capital Nairobi opened. It was largely financed with Chinese money. According to Breuer’s study, Chinese-built railway links are gradually forming a network throughout East Africa. In Djibouti, for instance, the Chinese helped to finance the construction of the port  of Doraleh and made sure it was connected by railway to the important neighbour and trading partner Ethiopia – a landlocked country. A pipeline was built as well. Both Doraleh port and the 730 kilometre long railway to Addis Ababa became operational this year, according to Breuer’s study, which was recently published by Stiftung Asienhaus, a non-governmental German think tank. There are further plans to link Addis Ababa to Kenya’s SGR. That would make rail transport to South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi possible, as Breuer writes. Furthermore, China wants to revitalise the 1,900 kilometre long Tanzania-Zambia Railway which was built with Chinese help in the 1970s. Among other things, it served to transport Zambian copper...

East Africa's bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) seeks to achieve free movement of persons, goods and services among the seven member states before the end of this year, officials said Wednesday. Speaking during a national consultative meeting about the IGAD Protocol on free movement of persons in the region, Abdelrahim Ahmed Khalil, Head of IGAD Liaison Office in South Sudan, said the regional bloc has embarked on consultations with all member states to ensure that the protocol is agreed upon before the end the year. Khalil said the meeting seeks to gather information on benefits and barriers to free movement of persons in the IGAD region and also generate recommendations from the nine member countries towards accomplishment of a protocol that guarantees free movement in the region. "We have already held consultative meetings for Uganda, now we are in South Sudan and next time we are going to other countries; Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya, all these will be finalized hopefully before the end of this year and we have the Protocol consulted and agreed," Khalil said. The Protocol on Free Movement of Persons is aimed at promoting the regularization of the high volume of informal movement that currently takes place in the IGAD region, and is to increase the opportunities for legal mobility. Khalil said IGAD has been engaged in seeking ways to strengthen regional cooperation and free movement of persons, goods and services for the last 30 years. He added that once completed, it would promote mobility...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched a plan to boost agriculture industrialisation across the continent. The new plan will see the AfDB scale up financial support for the production of crops with the highest potential to industrialise and support manufacturing on the continent. Top on the list is cassava, which according to experts could be used to produce ethanol for industrial use and other frequently utilised home products. Martin Fregene, the bank’s advisor to the vice president in charge of agriculture said the plan is to support crop production of cassava and its rapid industrial processing to help farmers boost household incomes. “We want to provide the best avenue for more farmers to benefit from the crop,” he told The New Times. Africa produces 50 percent of the cassava in the world and yet it accounts for just 5 percent of all processed starch in the world. And according to Fregene focus will mainly be on building value chains through partnerships with research and development organisations to help create more crop varieties. According to Naoko Koyama, the head of financial strategy and Business Development Expert at AfDB, boosting crop production will enable African countries including Rwanda to substitute imports worth $680 million – money that is currently spent on the purchase of industrial ethanol and products used in the manufacture of spirits, beer and industrial sweeteners. “Developing the cassava value chain is one of the best opportunities that Africa could capture by industrialising,” Koyama said. The session highlighted how cassava offers...

A deal to eliminate import tariffs between Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda came into force on Saturday, marking the first major step to integrating the East African nations into a single economic and investment bloc. The East African Community Customs Union is intended to promote regional investment by allowing businesses to set up shop in one country but enjoy duty-free access to all three, which have a combined population of 83-million. Negotiations to set up the customs union began in 2000. Under the deal, tariffs between the three countries will be phased out over the next five years. The agreement will also bind the countries to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from nations outside the union. The customs union is the first major deal the three countries have reached since they recreated the East African Community in January 2001. The community is a revival of the economic bloc formed after independence from Britain in the early 1960s that collapsed in 1977 amid internal bickering. But the nascent customs union is already troubled by a dispute over Uganda's demands for protection of some of its industries. The country has listed 174 items it wants protected, said Kenya's independent newspaper, The Standard. East African ministers failed to agree on the matter before the union was launched. They have formed a committee of nine experts to study ways of ending the dispute. - Sapa-AP Source: IOL

Imagine you are a trader in Uganda importing goods requiring 500 trucks. Under what has until now been the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) system, each truck would require its own customs clearance entry costing US$100. The 500 trucks would require US$50,000 (Approx. Shs180 million) to clear. Now imagine a new system is introduced that enables you to clear all 500 trucks using just one entry and paying just US$100. What would your reaction be? A source at the Uganda Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association, calls the new system; called the Single Customs Territory, a “silver bullet”. “The Single Customs Territory is a silver bullet that will eliminate multiple challenges that we have been facing,” the source told The Independent on Sept.02. His excitement is shared by Everest Kayondo, the chairman of Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) who told The Independent that any initiatives geared towards reducing the cost of doing business are always welcome. In an interview with The Independent on August 31, the Acting Commissioner for Customs at URA, James Kisaale explained that even traders who may want to clear small items can save up to $300 (over Shs 1 million) per entry. He said URA clears over 1, 000 containers of goods entering Uganda per day via busy borders of Malaba, Busia and others. The system which has been partly in operation since 2013 came into force (full operation) on Sept. 01 and URA has deployed 30 staff at Port of Mombasa in Kenya and another batch at Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania....