The coming together of the East African Community members to harmonize customs processes has not only made it easier for traders to do business but also drastically reduced serious transnational crimes and enhanced revenue collection. This is mainly attributed to the implementation of the Single Customs Territory. Established in 2014, the SCT has reduced the cost of doing business by eliminating duplication of processes. It has also reduced administrative costs, regulatory requirements and the risks associated with non-compliance on the transit of goods. This is because taxes are paid at the first point of entry for all the partner states. Going by the latest statistics on revenue collection from the borders, it is evident that the investment on joint Customs initiatives is bearing fruits. Most One Stop Border Posts, being one of the SCT initiative, coadministered by KRA customs and revenue agencies from the other EAC member states have registered growth in revenue. Commonly traded goods in the region include sugar, timber, unprocessed tobacco and fresh farm produce, coffee, cotton lint, teak logs/beams, construction materials, vehicle spare parts and manufactured goods. Further, the OSBP concept has increased border crossing speed and efficiency hence reducing barriers to trade and improving business competitiveness. The average time taken to clear a truck is 5-10 minutes compared to 2-3 days previously. On the Northern Corridor, the turnaround time of goods transitin from Mombasa to Kampala has been reduced from 18 days to four, and goods from Mombasa to Kigali, from 21 days to six....

Mwanza. The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is planning to spend Sh10 billion to modernise and otherwise improve the infrastructures of all the ports on Lake Victoria. TPA’s Lake Victoria ports manager, Mr Morris Mchindiuzi, named the ports which will be improved as including Nyamirembe in Geita Region; Magagani and Nyamkwikwi in Kagera Region; Lushamba and Ntama in Mwanza Region, as well as Mwigobelo in Mara Region. “Improvements of the ports’ infrastructures target to strengthen their cargo and passengers handling and transportation capacities in line with growing demands,” he said – adding that the job is projected to be completed by the end of this year. Noting that the improvements would also boost revenues for the Ports Authority, Mr Mchindiuzi revealed that, “during the 2017/18 financial year, we collected Sh590 million in revenues. This almost doubled to Sh1.4 billion in 2018/19 – and we expect to collect Sh1.8 billion in the 2019/20 financial year.” All the ports in question handled a total of 280,000 passengers and 84 tonnes of cargoes during the 2017/18 financial year, the manager said. The figures dramatically rose in the following year (FY-2018/19), when the ports handled a record 157,000 tonnes of cargoes and 600,000 passengers. In that regard, it is projected that some 167,000 tonnes of cargoes and 700,000 passengers will be handled through all the ports during the 2019/20 financial year. “We expect to increase the number of passengers and tonnage of cargoes handled through the ports after we complete the envisaged improvements to the...

Ambassador Katureebe Tayebwa Consul - General of Uganda in Mombasa said more commitment was required from all stakeholders’ especially political leaders and state bureaucrats to remove barriers to trade. TRADE Many direct and indirect trade barriers continue to hinder increased trade among East Africans which could have led to increased prosperity in the region. Ambassador Katureebe Tayebwa Consul - General of Uganda in Mombasa said more commitment was required from all stakeholders’ especially political leaders and state bureaucrats to remove barriers to trade. This was during the Third Trade and Business Facilitation Symposium 2019 organized by the Consulate of Uganda in Mombasa and Trade Mark East Africa, an institution seeking to push prosperity in the region through increased trade. Tayebwa cited that Uganda’s tea exports go to the Port of Mombasa for the tea auction and so the two countries need each other. “We need to tackle the challenges that continue to hinder the seamless movement of goods in the region. We need to create networks in the region to harness the opportunities presented as well as create a platform where we can share challenges encountered in trade," Tayebwa said. Tayebwa said trade and business facilitation will be successful when supported through transformation of the economy and investing in infrastructure.' He said the governments in the region were investing heavily in infrastructure development. “We need to increase exports from the region. No country can develop without setting up industries for exports which create jobs and bring in foreign exchange,” Tayebwa...

Customs agents and freight forwarders in Kenya have begun domesticating a regional Bill aimed at self-regulating an industry that has been operating without legal backing for decades. The East African Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders Management Model Bill 2017 is set to be implemented in all the six East African countries. Consequently, the Kenya Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders Management Bill 2019 will be tabled in parliament soon. "The final draft is awaiting the input of government departments including the Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenya Ports Authority before we submit it to the National Assembly House committee," said Roy Mwanthi, the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association chairman. Once the Bill becomes law, the association will be transformed into a society to be governed by a national council elected by freight and Customs agents bodies. It will set professional standards for the sector, provide certification and registration as well as a code of conduct including how to solve disputes among members. Source: The East African

East African Community member states are working towards linking the regional electronic payment system to other payment solutions in Africa, to moderate trade around the continent following the launch of the African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). EAC central banks are now finding ways of transforming the system by linking it with other payment solutions in Africa to allow seamless transfer of cash across the continent at both retail and wholesale levels. Bank of Uganda’s deputy governor Dr Louis Kasekende said the move will help improve intra-Africa trade and support the growth of regional firms. At present, Kenya controls transactions in the EAPS, which allows citizens of member countries to make and receive payments in regional currencies — the Kenyan shilling, Ugandan shilling, Tanzanian shilling, Rwandan franc and Burundian franc. South Sudan is yet to join the system, which links the respective real time gross settlements (RTGS) systems of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The operationalisation of the EAPS was largely meant to stregnthen regional currency convertibility. Kenya’s Central Bank is working in partnership with other regional central banks to smoothen the acceptance of the EAC domestic currencies as a way of enhancing regional trade and lowering transaction costs. In other regional blocs such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, execution of currency convertibility has been enhanced by grouping member states into clusters. These are the Southern African subgroup, Northern African subgroup, Central and Eastern African subgroup and the Indian Ocean subgroup. According to the Comesa...

Stakeholders in the logistics sector hope the third Global Logistics Convention, taking place on August 29-30 at the Kigali International Convention Centre, can spur countries to enhance rail and water transport, embrace technology and curb political friction, among others. Local and regional freight forwarders, truckers, sector experts, and others, believe the conference comes in handy as regards finding solutions to challenges in the sector. Abhishek Sharma, TradeMark Africa’s Senior Director for Transport told Sunday Times that the whole idea has been that the logistics industry needs to come together to discuss issues jointly and improve dialogue with governments in the region. Sharma said: “The main player that invests money in logistics infrastructure is the government. But the main user of the infrastructure is the industry; the freight forwarders, and others. It is very important that when we are planning logistics, there is a constant dialogue between the government and the logistics players.” By and large, however, Sharma said that even though challenges persist in the region’s logistics sector, in the last 10 years, the status of logistics in the region has improved significantly. “The [transit] time and the cost have come down dramatically along both the northern corridor and the central corridor. On the central corridor, for Rwanda, while the average speed of truck on transit was 7 kilometers an hour it has now improved to as much as 14 kilometers an hour, he said.” The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index – a tool created to help countries identify the...

Kenya sent off its inaugural shipment of crude oil on Monday, becoming the first East African nation to join the ranks of petroleum-exporting countries. Though Kenya is still years away from building the infrastructure necessary to unlock its full commercial oil-producing potential, Monday's maiden shipment of more than 200,000 barrels revealed possible tensions over how the nation's crude wealth should be divided. In March, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the Petroleum Act of 2019, which allocates 75 percent of state-designated oil profits to the central government, 20 percent to oil-producing counties, and five percent to local communities. But speaking at the sendoff ceremony for the maiden consignment in the port of Mombasa, Peter Emuria Lotethiro, Deputy Governor of Turkana County, invoked the metaphor of a goat to lay claim to what he sees as his region's share of the spoils. "According to our culture as the Turkana people, when we slaughter a goat for a visitor, the owner of the goat must be left with the limbs," said Lotethiro. "The people of Turkana have instructed me that in this oil deal, the limb should be ours." Salim Mvurya, governor of Kwale County, used the occasion to also signal displeasure. "We are speaking about the division of revenues from our minerals, and we're aware that the president signed into law the Mining Act, but that law hasn't really translated into revenues to the county and the people of Kenya," he said. President Kenyatta seized upon the governors' remarks to highlight...

In recent times, Kisumu has been a high-profile development arena receiving the highest possible government attention and resources specifically targeting the port upgrade. And this is the way it should be, not just for Kisumu but any part of Kenya that has significant value-adding economic opportunities. In the 1970s, Kisumu was a booming regional economic and logistics hub whose growth was frozen by bad regional politics and poor national economic governance. At the end of a busy railway line from Mombasa port, Kisumu was connected by an efficient cargo and passenger lake transport system to the Lake Victoria ports of Mwanza, Musoma, Bukoba and Port Bell. The entire logistics chain was under the East African the Railways and Harbours (EARH), which belonged to the old East African Community (EAC). When the EAC collapsed in 1977, Tanzania unilaterally closed all its borders with Kenya, thus severing all the land, air and lake transport links with Tanzania. By the time Tanzania opened the borders in 1984, it was already too late for Kisumu port which was by now a ghost port. Trade transactions with Port Bell were already minimal as a result of political chaos in Uganda in 1970s and early 1980s. The poor economic governance sweeping across Kenya in 1980/90s led to collapse of the lake region flagship cotton and sugar based agro-industries. Kicomi textile mill closed as most sugar factories started to wobble. Then the hyacinth weed came from nowhere in early 1990s and this choked out of existence the...

As Kenyan prepares to chair the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGCPS) from January next year, it faces the tough task of ensuring maritime security as the stature of the blue economy grows. Securing sea transport in Kenya is particularly significant taking into account the fact that the Port of Mombasa is the gateway for the region’s imports. “Maritime security provides a platform for sustainable sea resource exploitation to guarantee wealth and job creation. Ninety per cent of trade transacted in Africa passes through the Indian Ocean with Kenyan transacting about 92 per cent of its trade through the Indian Ocean,” said a 2017 report by the International Peace Support Training Centre Nairobi, titled An Assessment of Maritime Insecurity in the Kenya Maritime Domain’. The study comprehensively spelt out the state of maritime insecurity along the coast line and the possible measures that need to be taken to address the menace. According to the report , Kenya’s Indian Ocean domain occupies an area measuring 245,320 Km2 made up of an Exclusive Economic Zones(EEZ) of 142,000 Km2 and an extended continental shelf of 103,320 Km2. Geographically, Kenya has an expansive coastal ocean line of 536 Km in length. “By 2010, maritime insecurity in eastern Africa had caused the global community equivalent of Sh1.8 trillion and the cost to Kenya alone was between Sh30 billion and 40 billion raising insurance cost with negative effects on regional economies,” added the report. Maritime consultant, Andrew Mwangura told Shipping that the...

Kenya’s dream to join the league of petroleum exporting countries became a reality as the first consignment of Kenyan crude oil left the Port of Mombasa on Monday. The consignment of 200,000 barrels of low sulphur crude from Kenya’s oil fields in Turkana County destined for Malaysia is worth Ksh.1.2 billion, a price much higher than what was initially projected. Kenya is using this initial export to test the global market before it embarks on large scale commercial production of its oil. The inaugural shipment of the crude oil makes Kenya the first Eastern Africa country to become an oil exporting nation. The Celsius Riga, the ship carrying the Kenyan crude oil left the Mombasa Port shortly after midday on Monday after it was flagged off by President Uhuru Kenyatta. President Kenyatta said it was a milestone moment for Kenya as it becomes the first East African country to become an oil exporter. “I am proud to say Kenya’s grand march to oil and gas production and export has begun. The flagging-off of this maiden consignment represents a new dawn for Kenya; and the beginning of an era of greater prosperity for all Kenyans,” President Kenyatta said. The President said the government is committed to achieve sustainable development through prudent use of the country’s resources. “We will ensure that Kenya’s natural resources are utilized in a manner that yields maximum dividends today but without compromising the interests of future generations,” said the President. Kenya’s Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) commenced...