The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) will leverage on its vast outlets across the country to roll up e-commerce hubs, ICT Principal Secretary (PS) Jerome Ochieng has said. This is after the Universal Postal Union (UPU) selected Kenya as one of the countries in to roll out regional e-commerce hubs in East Africa. The PS said this as he commissioned PCK’s National Logistics Hub and the Posta Cargo, two products that the cooperation say will revolutionize e-commerce in the region.PCK also boasts of 660,000 destinations across the globe under UPU umbrella. Through Posta Cargo, the Corporation hopes to start transport large cargo to various destinations through what the Manager, Courier and Logistics Services, Patrick Omulo termed as “first-class clearing and forwarding system.” General Manager/ Courier Services, Mrs. Elizabeth Mwaura said moving the Corporations courier services from the CBD to industrial area will mean increased security and save overall operating costs. The Corporation has a network of over 600 Post Offices and the Hub will be the nerve center of distribution of all packages to all corners of the country.Mr Omulo said Posta Cargo, the new clearing and forwarding section of PCK will seek to correct trade imbalance in the country. Post Master General Dan Kagwe said the corporation hopes to be the backbone of e-commerce in the region and has come up with innovative products towards this cause. The corporation launched its second warehouse having launched a 34,000 square feet one in Mombasa last year. “I think as a Corporation,...

““Our Mission is to promote, assist and enhance economic and business development for all our members at both National and County level so as to stimulate wealth at all levels of governments right from the communities they represent,” she reckons. The two-day program was initiated by the High Commissioner of Uganda to Kenya Phoebe Otaala ,under the theme “Unlocking business women’s potential in the region”. The delegation further paid a courtesy call on Uganda President Yoweri Museveni to sought his guidance and intervention on various challenges facing businesses along the Kenya Uganda border. WIB acknowledges that the existing structures such as border offices and market stalls are often dilapidated, whilst toilets, lighting, and fencing are typically absent. In addition, high customs duties, complex clearance procedures, cumbersome documentary requirements (often featuring centralized permit and licensing systems), along with unpredictable trade policies all contribute to raising trade costs. “We shall strive to blend all women professionals in the Women in Business to find the synergy required to empower and create an expanded economic atmosphere and market for all-inclusive business development,” Muthoni says. The business lobby group has voiced its support or contents of the Building Bridges Initiative Report. Through its President Muthoni, the group supports the recommendations to allow the youth to least have a seven year tax holiday as an initiative to help them in business entrepreneurship. She stated the tax holiday would encourage both women and youth to engage in business. Muthoni further termed the tax holiday proposal as crucial...

The much anticipated African Free Trade Zone – the world’s largest trade zone – is set to launch in July this year. It will be a major development for the continent where most countries mainly trade with nations outside Africa. Only 15% of trade is done between African countries compared to 70% of trade among European nations and 25% in the South East Asian region. The Continental Free Trade Area will comprise of 53 African countries with a population of 1.2 billion people and an estimated gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion. Eritrea is the only African country that has not signed the African Continental Free Trade Area treaty. Some of the challenges that are likely to hinder the single market project are: Poor road and rail networks linking African nations Underdeveloped industries High dependence on custom revenue Inefficient border posts Additionally, there are concerns that the more developed nations will gain from the single market at the expense of the less developed nations. Countries like South Africa and Egypt, with their advanced industrial base, will benefit by selling their goods to less developed markets in the region. For the Single Market trade agreement to succeed, African countries need to improve their infrastructure, create new revenue streams away from customs income, eliminate protectionist laws, and improve efficiency at points of entry. Source: The Kenyan Wall Street

Efforts by Kenya to tap the unexploited potential of the maritime industry, commonly known as the ‘Blue Economy’, came into sharp focus recently when a youth gathering in Mombasa raised concerns over the delay by the government in creating an integrated policy framework to chart a way forward. The conference was a follow up to a Global Sustainable Blue Economy Conference that was held in Kenya last year, which made a number of recommendations that the country must put in place to tap into the opportunities in the Blue Economy for economic growth and job creation among the youth. The Youth Congress, a local non-governmental organisation that has partnered with the Canadian High Commission and the UN-Habitat has already presented some recommendations that will only be implementable if anchored on a focused policy. Although there has been notable attention, interest and programmes on Blue Economy in Kisumu ports, Lake Region Economic Bloc-Lake Region Economic Blueprint and Jumuia ya Kaunti za Pwani, there is little good to write home about. Until only a few years ago, when Kenya acknowledged the value of maritime sector and passed the Merchant Shipping Act 2010 that repealed 1967 piece legislation that governed the industry, it has historically been largely ignored as an economic growth frontier. Over the years, the country has either failed or been slow in developing initiatives that can lay down acceleration path and in turn failed to avail resources needed to unlock the sector. This has been worsened by lack of a...

The port of Mombasa has recorded improved efficiency attributed to the construction of the second Container Terminal, improved handling services and faster transfer of cargo on the standard gauge railway to Nairobi. The Kenya Port Authority managing director Daniel Manduku said yard congestion has reduced enabling better operations and planning. “Our performance was boosted by unprecedented growth in both transit and transshipment business due to the provision of adequate yard space particularly after the construction of the Second Container Terminal and investment in cargo handling facilities,” Mr Manduku said while addressing the media during a tour of the port to assess operations. The port handled 1.425 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (teus) in 2019 representing a 7.3 per cent growth over the previous year. On transshipment, the port registered 197,272 teus from 105,333 teus registered in the same period in 2018, representing a growth of 87.3 per cent. This year’s projections are put at over 200,000 teus. Mr Manduku said quick transfer of cargo through the Standard Gauge Railway to the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi has solved port congestion and they now expect to dispatch more than 10 trains daily pulling 108 wagons starting this January due to increased cargo traffic. Source: Hellenic Shipping News

Africa made history this year as the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) officially entered into force. As trading under the AfCFTA starts on July 1, 2020, with a market of over a billion people and income of about $3 trillion, the big question is whether the new free trade area will lead to one big African market. Already, the AfCFTA has energised the continent by positioning regional integration front and centre. By requiring member states to remove tariffs from 90 per cent of goods, the agreement is expected to boost trade among African countries from its low level of 16 per cent. The Economic Commission for Africa estimates likely trade effects of over 50 per cent. Yet, lowering tariffs further will not be the magic bullet. Overcoming non-tariff barriers is key. Here are factors to facilitate one big African market. Regional Economic Communities (RECs): Africa’s regions have many RECs with overlapping memberships, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community. These RECs are at different stages of integration. The AfCFTA aimed to consolidate them into one entity. That did not happen. AfCFTA’s Article 19(2) states that “members of a regional economic community that have attained higher levels of regional integration than under the AfCFTA, shall maintain such higher levels among themselves”. This provision mandates trade liberalisation to follow different paths, not one single market. The signatories recognise the problem of many overlapping RECs. At their July summit meeting, they asked...

The World Bank has projected a weaker economic growth in sub Saharan African in 2020, pinning hopes on investor confidence to turnaround fortunes of the region’s economies. According to the Bank’s 2020 Global Economic Prospects, growth is expected to pick up to 2.9 per cent this year, assuming investor confidence improves in some large economies, energy bottlenecks ease and robust growth continues in agricultural commodity exporters. The forecast is weaker than previously expected, reflecting softer demand from key trading partners, lower commodity prices and adverse domestic developments in several countries. But for East African Community, the problem is further compounded by low intra-trade, meaning much needed foreign exchange is spent on imports from outside the region, leading to slowdown in manufacturing and reduced job opportunities. This is the reason increasing intra-East African Community trade is top on the agenda of the regional private sector-led umbrella body—the East African Business Council (EABC). This was the major resolution arrived at in Arusha last November during the two-day high-level East African Business and Investment Summit. Even though the EAC is one of Africa’s fastest growing regional blocs, registering economic growth of 5.7 per cent in 2018, more intra-trade won’t be easy. While the Summit took stock of EAC achievements for the past 20 years, it is increasingly becoming clear that the more resolutions are made to increase intra-trade, the more the challenges the region faces. “Mechanisms for resolving Non tariff barriers were put in place, for instance, the national monitoring committees and regional...

President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to launch the proposed Sh350 million Uhuru Business Park and refurbished port in Kisumu County next week. Preparations were in top gear yesterday with County Commissioner Susan Waweru and Kisumu City Manager Dorice Ombara supervising the ongoing construction works in the park. This development comes after the Kenya Railways Corporation donated 23 acres of land to the county for industrial growth. The county government decided to put up a business park named after President Uhuru who initiated the process to accommodate displaced traders in town. Over 10,000 traders were displaced after several markets including the popular Lwang’ni Beach fish market were demolished. The businesses were standing on land belonging to Kenya Railways which the Kenya Ports Authority reclaimed for the expansion of Kisumu Port infrastructure. Some of the affected traders have not been resettled to date but with the construction of the Uhuru Business Park, they are likely to resume business soon. Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o said were it not for President Uhuru’s intervention, they would not have received the funds to build the park. At least 7,500 stalls and 2,500 jua kali sheds will be built to resettle those displaced in the city’s structural reorganisation. The area has also been fenced and is now under twenty four hour security surveillance just as was done in Kisumu Port to avoid interference with ongoing work. Security officials said the area has 886 housing units built by Kenya Railways in 1901 and it had to be guarded...

Over three million people in Tanzania and Kenya will benefit from a €345 million financing package for road construction support, approved by the African Development Bank’s (https://www.AfDB.org/) board in Abidjan on Thursday. The Bank’s support for the Mombasa-Lunga Lunga/Horohoro and Tanga-Pangani-Bagamoyo roads Phase I, is in the form of African Development Bank and African Development Fund loans and represents 78.5% of the total €399.7 million project cost. The European Union contributed a grant of €30 million, 7.7% of the total project cost, to the government of Kenya. The road is a key component of the East African transport corridors network, connecting Kenya and Tanzania. Producers, manufacturers and traders will be able to move goods more quickly and cheaply. In addition, farmers and fishermen will benefit from improved access to local and regional markets and amenities, including better schools and health centres. “The project will have spillover benefits for hinterland countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan that depend on Mombasa as gateway to global markets,” said Hussein Iman, the Bank’s Regional Sector Manager for infrastructure, private sector, and industrialization. The Bank’s support will also provide roadside trading facilitates for sellers, half of them women who currently operate in disorganized and unsafe conditions. The road crosses regions with high rates of youth unemployment. In light of this, the project includes a vocational training component for 500 unemployed youth (half of them women) to acquire marketable skill and improve their economic prospects. The Bank...

Giving a speech to mark the 56th anniversary of Kenya’s independence, Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi said Tanzania and Kenya are like brothers and will continue to cooperate to see economic diplomacy is strengthened at all times. “We – Tanzania and Kenya are blood brothers hence we wish you well in bringing development to Kenya. But you must also know that Kenya’s development means Tanzania’s development,” Prof Kabudi said, noting that developments recorded in the two countries will also benefit neighbouring Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, the broader East African Community (EAC). In return, High Commissioner Dan Kazungu commended Tanzanian authorities for the unity and solidarity it has shown to Kenya which has been a stimulus for the development of the two countries. He said: “I would like to say that the unity and solidarity has spurred development among the two countries. We must remember that unity is strength and our goal is to cooperate between us and with all the nations in the world.” Kazungu stated that Tanzania will continue to be special to Kenya due to the solidarity it has been showing to Kenya socially, politically and economically. “It is remembered that in April this year when the two Heads of State met in Arusha we succeeded to remove 25 trade obstacles out of 37, and this proves how Tanzania and Kenya are brotherly nations who are bent on strengthening trade between them,” he elaborated. Kenya accounted for 15 of the non-tariff...