A lot has been done by the region to foster trade across the East African Community (EAC) bloc. The number of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) has been reduced to just a handful and traders can also now clear merchandise once, at the point of entry. On top of that, there are now very few roadblocks and weighbridges across the bloc. It is efforts like these that have led to a significant reduction in cost of transporting containers from Mombasa to Kigali; from $6,500 in 2011 to about $4,800 currently. This has saved the country about $7 million and boosted trade within the region. However, despite the gains, more needs to be done to further facilitate intra-regional trade and movement of people. According to a new report by the TradeMark Africa, EAC governments must address the remaining NTBs, including technical issues like standards, logistics and police roadblocks, red tape and lack of automation in intra-regional trade processes, to spur trade. The Rwanda Trade Programme Evaluation report, released on Monday, also faults inefficiencies along transport routes, especially at sea ports and border posts for the high transport and freight costs in EAC. These bottlenecks affect intra-EAC trade that is currently at just 17 per cent, a small figure considering the bloc boasts of a 160 million people market. Therefore, to further enhance trade in the region, Rwanda and other EAC countries should make targeted investments and policy reforms to help eliminate the remaining trade barriers. Already, Rwanda has announced it will undertake more...

The United Kingdom is backing the construction of internationally agreed port infrastructure at the Mombasa Port in the far east of Kenya. The port is being improved to meet the fast demand for port clearances by East Africa Community member countries that are landlocked and depend on Kenya’s biggest port for imports and exports business. Mombasa port serves more than 200 million people in EAC including Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. UK’s will construct bigger viable roads and expand docking points for ships to increase the efficiency of the port’s carrier activities which is an engine for the regional social-economic bloc. UK through the Trademark East Africa will not leave out the for the Dar-es-Salaam port modernization which is a trade outlet for the whole inner South Central markets and the EAC itself. After the signing of the trade partnership with UK in 2009, international trade on the two main EAC ports has increased both in turn over and pace, the clearing days reducing from 15 days to 4 days today. “ This has led to the reduction of freight and transport costs, increased competitiveness of goods exported by East African countries, and led to job creation,” TMA notes. UK aid now supports TMA with £95m for next 4 years to increase Kenya’s trade by £1.3b and create  700,000 by 2020 new jobs and generate an additional $1.2b in revenues. If the trend goes as planned then Kenya will be home to   British investors and thus delivering value for money for...

Three government and private tourism agencies have unveiled four Uganda tourism products, costing Shs231 billion to boost the countries tourism capacity. Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) and Uganda Tourism Association (UTA) in collaboration with Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) unveiled the new products, including Namugongo Shrine Faith Based Tourism, Uganda National Museum Indigenous Dinner, Uganda Rwenzori Cultural Trail, and Interpretation Capacity Building for Birding on Wednesday at a tourism review workshop in Kampala. The money will be raised through partnership with local and tourism companies from neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Rwanda, among others, with UTB, UTA and TMA contributing the biggest percentage. According to Mr Richard Kawere, UTA's technical coordinator, the funds will be used to construct accommodation structures, cultural museums and marketing of the new products. "This is just an estimate of the costs that would be incurred in establishment and marketing of new tourism products. The final budget will be established after consultation meetings and site visits," Mr Kawere said. Mr Wanjiku Kimamo, the TMA senior programmer, whose organisation has supported the project with Shs1.1b, and Mr Stephen Asiimwe, the chief executive officer, UTB, said the new products will, among other things, enhance tourism institutional capacity and sustainability through building national tourist apex associations; encourage private public dialogue; as well as improve competitiveness and marketability of Uganda tourism products. "Our partnership is to increase trade for prosperity in the EAC region. We are looking at increasing tourism and export capability of EA countries," Mr Kimamo said. Mr...

By Agnes Nantaba Dr. Gudula Naiga Basaza is the chairperson of Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Limited (UWEAL). She spoke to The Independent's Agnes E. Nantaba about women entrepreneurship in Uganda. What are the key elements in your style as a manager? Our management style seeks to satisfy the interests of the different categories of members ranging from individual to cooperative members. As the chairperson of the Board, I make decisions guided by strategic plans. I have an oversight over management for implementation. What is your assessment of the performance of women entrepreneurship in Uganda? More women are getting involved in entrepreneurship legalising and professionalising their businesses with records. Women are no longer doing business as usual. More products by women are finding their way into supermarkets and other retail chains as women invest in branding and packaging. Looking at the history, most women were in agriculture but today more are taking up trade. We have diversification into construction and manufacturing. More women are also becoming information interested to keep up to date with market trends. They have taken up research and use it to improve on their products. What is your strategy to executing your mandate of promoting women entrepreneurs in Uganda? Women make up 52.5% of the labour force and are an important pool of potential talent to help Uganda meet its development goals, especially in entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) growth. We created a platform where aspiring and women entrepreneurs come together to support each other....

Trademark East Africa’s support for the modernization of ports in Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam, and its one-stop border posts, are transforming trade and driving integration across East Africa. And the UK in Kenya and Tanzania plays an important role in supporting them, through UK aid. The time it takes to move goods from Mombasa to Kampala has been halved to 6 days and a container now moves through the port of Mombasa in less than 4 days – down from 15 days a few years ago. This has led to the reduction of freight and transport costs, increased competitiveness of goods exported by East African countries, and led to job creation. Trademark East Africa (TMA) was founded by the UK in 2009 with the aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through trade. Funded by UK aid and other development partners, TMA’s flagship project in Kenya is the modernization of the Mombasa Port—Kenya’s biggest port which serves more than 200 million people in East Africa. UK aid is increasing its support to TMA (£95m over the next 4 years) to increase Kenya’s trade by £1.3b. This will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs every year (with an aim of 700,000 by 2020), stimulate further growth and generate an additional $1.2b in revenue for Kenya. Increasing trade will boost local economic growth, as well as open up markets for British investors and deliver value for money for UK taxpayers. The UK’s new support will improve trade infrastructure at Mombasa, Kenya’s biggest...

EAC deputy secretary-general Christoph Bazivamu (left) with Lake Victoria Basin Commission officials Mbogo Futakamba and Said Matano (right) at a recent meeting in Kisumu. PHOTO | ANITA CHEPKOECH   IN SUMMARY The commission had since 2006 been renting offices at the Reinsurance Plaza in Kisumu at nearly Sh6 million annually before it moved to the former Nyanza provincial headquarters, Prosperity House, this year. The plan to build a Sh700 million Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LBVC) headquarters in Kisumu is set to take off after the East African Council of Ministers endorsed its funding mobilisation plan, ending a 10-year wait. The commission is a specialised institution that co-ordinates development projects in Lake Victoria basin on behalf of the five East African Community (EAC) partner states. The commission had since 2006 been renting offices at the Reinsurance Plaza in Kisumu at nearly Sh6 million annually before it moved to the former Nyanza provincial headquarters, Prosperity House, this year where the Kenyan government has allocated them the 12th and 13th floors in an agreement. The government had in 2006 donated a 2.8 hectare piece of land in Kisumu for the construction of the LBVC secretariat. The piece of land bordering Lake Victoria, and the Kisumu Airport, remains idle to date. LVBC executive secretary Said Matano expressed optimism after the EAC ministers issued a directive that they create a Headquarter Construction Fund to mobilise money for building the headquarters. “The commission long finalised the business plan and office architectural design. We have therefore started...

IN SUMMARY Through the system, agents can organise clients, consignees, shipping lines, transporters and their fleet in their database. A Mombasa-based software developer has launched an online system for importers, transporters and clearing and forwarding agents, to facilitate clearance of cargo at Mombasa port. Cybermonk Software Development Limited has designed clearing and forwarding professional (C&F PRO) as it seeks to cash in on industry players’ concern over delays of cargo clearance. According to the firm’s director, Michael Mulela, the system enables clearing and forwarding agents to input and track consignment data as well as the Bill of Lading. Through the system, agents can organise clients, consignees, shipping lines, transporters and their fleet in their database. Users can access vessel schedule reports and automatically update estimated time of arrival, the date the vessels is expected at the berth and the last container dispatch date for all consignments in the system and compute remaining days to demurrage. According to Mr Mulela, who is the lead developer, the firm has already set up an interface for insurers to provide their marine insurance products in readiness for the new requirement that importers should procure insurance locally. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been tasked by the Treasury to implement section 20 of the Insurance Act that require importers buy insurance locally starting January. The system’s marine insurance interface also features a Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) calculator that computes the CIF values in comparison to Free on Board (FOB) for the selected insurer. Importers have...

The new products include Namugongo Shrine, National Museum indigenous dinner, among others In Summary Kimamo called upon EA governments to take tourism as one of the priority sectors because of its strong participation of enterprises, opportunities to create jobs, increase incomes and contribution to national economies. The sector’s total contribution to Gross Domestic Product in 2015 was 9.9 per cent at Shs6,395.4 billion compared to 7.9 per cent at Shs5,495 billion) in 2013 and 8.8 per cent in 2012 which was Shs4,993.6 billion. Kampala. Three government and private tourism agencies have unveiled four Uganda tourism products, costing Shs231 billion to boost the countries tourism capacity. Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) and Uganda Tourism Association (UTA) in collaboration with Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) unveiled the new products, including Namugongo Shrine Faith Based Tourism, Uganda National Museum Indigenous Dinner, Uganda Rwenzori Cultural Trail, and Interpretation Capacity Building for Birding on Wednesday at a tourism review workshop in Kampala. The money will be raised through partnership with local and tourism companies from neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Rwanda, among others, with UTB, UTA and TMA contributing the biggest percentage. According to Mr Richard Kawere, UTA’s technical coordinator, the funds will be used to construct accommodation structures, cultural museums and marketing of the new products. “This is just an estimate of the costs that would be incurred in establishment and marketing of new tourism products. The final budget will be established after consultation meetings and site visits,” Mr Kawere said. Mr Wanjiku Kimamo,...

The first phase of SGR is expected to be completed by the end of the year with the first train to use the railway on June 1, 2017. By KENNEDY KANGETHE, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 22 – Kenya’s Transport Ministry has attributed the damage of a section of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kambu area Makueni County to heavy rains and the temporary structures supporting the on-going works.  Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera, says on the night of November 18, 2016, as a result of the flood flow the culverts of the service road was blocked by sand boulders and debris gathered from the channelled water along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway. Nyakera says the water in the channel formed a big dam upstream washing away the service road embankment. He says the contractor has maintained the temporary service road as works are still ongoing and assured that the structure of the underpass and the Standard Gauge railway line remains intact. “The SGR contractor, China Roads and Bridges Corporation together with the project supervisory team have been on ground since the incident to ensure a timely restoration of the project is done,” he explained. The principal secretary added the government is committed to ensuring a successful and seamless implementation of the Standard Gauge Railway. “We take cognizance of the fact that the projects expectations are high and thus critical that the public be guaranteed that the project is being implemented professionally keeping to stipulated standards required,” he added. The first phase of SGR is expected...

News that the East African Community has been hit by a severe funding crisis is a grim warning that hopes of a regional trading bloc could be farther from reality. The East African Legislative Assembly, the legislative arm of the community, says the financial crunch is so grave that Parliament and other institutions have had to cancel important activities. Staff salaries and payments to suppliers have been delayed. If basic financial needs cannot be met, how is the community ever going to achieve its lofty ideals of constructing a powerful and sustainable economic and political bloc? How is it going to meet the expectations of the region’s 150 million citizens, who are hoping for a seamless system that eases business, education, travel, and social integration across the borders? That the problem is a result of member states’ failure to meet their financial obligations to the community suggests that the countries do not have the commitment to drive the process. Unless members honour their financial obligations, citizens will lose faith in the whole process and the dream of regional integration will remain just that. A mere pipe dream. Source: Daily Nation