A random 23-year old Tanzanian woman trader has a pretty good idea what it feels like to have 5,000 day old chicks razed to ashes when she not so long ago borrowed money and invested in what she thought was a life changing, one-time, opportunity. She lost all her investments and was the subject of an intended prosecution for conducting illegal business against known Tanzanian Laws.

Welcome to how Africa operates. It’s a jungle out here where proximity does not mean the same thing as closeness. Where Marwa Chacha who lives in Suba-Kuria district in Migori County in Kenya is not expected to share milk let alone trade it with Chacha Marwa whose residence is 500 metres away in Sirari in Mara Province.

Government functionaries will read a riot-act of operational rules that are intended to protect the interests of local trade from cross border “greed” and interests. The rules are great in as far as intent is concerned. The trouble with these rules is that they are a coinage of the colonial era of cold-war divisions that were meant to achieve economic enclaves through blockades.

These economic enclaves were by definition meant to be sources of goods for the colonial powers. A cursory glance into these rules which have been embedded word for word into law is that they are a tad oppressive and discourage cross border trade.

A study conducted on the challenges of cross border trade by EASSI in 2012 showed that women faced a variety of challenges including lack of capital, information, high taxes and cut-throat competition from the more established companies.

Yet it is the disconnect between government functionaries at border posts and the laws they implement that pose the greatest challenge to petty traders, mostly women, to whom cross border trade is both and sources of employment and thus income.

In the very same year 2012, this columnist initiated the idea of sharing stories of experiences of cross border traders in Tanzanian Print Media.

The number of women who showed willingness to engage in cross border trade was much higher than the numbers who were actually trading and many of the former, were of the view the situation was made fundamentally untenable by the lack of clarity in law and the losses they had experienced while conducting cross border trade.

Latter day ultra-hawk nationalists cannot be left behind. This lot, fast and furious, are always the first to raise their voices about national interests that must supersede regional protocols.

Loud and lacking in décor, the ultra-hawk voices many times have no facts apart from the platforms where they stand as they proclaim why local laws prevail over regional protocols. After all, it is not them who get asked when shortages occur as recent reports which have indicated for instance that there is a crucial shortage of chicken in Tanzania resulting in a steep rise in prices especially for the hotel sector. So much for local content initiative.

The 2017 Report on Agriculture Culture Powering Africa’s transformation draws on experiences across the continent while asserting the need for cross border trade to be eased as Africa approaches industrialization through an accessible labour forces and access to farm inputs.

Trade Mark East Africa has been and continues to be involved for the last 9 or so years in lobby, advocacy and practical engagement/interventions to ease the doing of business in the East African region made accessible.

One of the challenges for us in Tanzania is absorption of such project funding. Yet another study on support to print media by Best Dialogue corroborates this gap when it comes to supporting mind-set change so that business both internally and which is a spring board for regional trade by Tanzanian business men can thrive. For prospective East African cross border trade, the future is a mixed bag of bleak and projection of bright.

Oyoo is a research and communications consultant with Midas Touché East Africa

Source The Citizen