Aisha Inshuti holds dual Rwandan-Ugandan citizenship. Having completed university, the 24-year-old ventured into a cross-border business of selling women's hair products. She buys them in Uganda and sells them in Rwanda. "Crossing the border is sometimes difficult especially with politics these days," she tells DW. "Many Rwandans have dual citizenship. You can have both Rwandan and Ugandan nationality, but these days we hear there is a problem with the Ugandan and Rwandan government," she said. Nowadays, she claims, Ugandan immigration officials even go to the length of confiscating the Ugandan identity cards of people with dual citizenship. "It will take you ages – if not forever – to get it back, so we have resorted to only using the Rwandan national ID," Inshuti says. At a bus terminal in Uganda's capital Kampala, Joki Wanjeri, a 27-year-old Kenyan trader, waits for her bus back home to Nairobi. She deals in women's footwear and shares Inshuti's sentiments. Ugandan officials create obstacles that impede free trade between the two countries, Wanjeri says. "Once you reach the border on the Ugandan side they want money [bribes], otherwise you cannot cross," she laments. "It's easy for the Ugandans to cross from Kenya with our goods, but when it comes to us it's a different story." Political wrangling to blame While Akol Amazima, a Ugandan political analyst cannot confirm the traders' experiences, he does believe that the root of problems lies in intra-regional politics. The problems at the borders are often the result of political differences between the countries. "When the political situation...

Kenya has reached out to the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in a bid to solve escalating trade disputes with some member states. EAC and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed yesterday said the executive arm of the trade bloc should come in where countries are unable to solve non-tariff barrier issues amicably. “The biggest issue is the interpretation of rules by officials at the border. To solve this, we want a different approach where the secretariat takes a leading role in resolving the issues rather than members resolving disputes among themselves,” he said at a press briefing in Nairobi. Blocked from markets Kenya Association of Manufacturers Chairman Sachen Gudka said despite efforts to solve a trade spat where Uganda and Tanzania slapped duty on Kenyan confectionery and sweets, some products were still being blocked from the two markets. Kenyan manufacturers are also frustrated by Tanzania’s push-back over duty-free sugar imports after the country slapped the commodity with a 25 per cent duty. Kenya invited the two countries to inspect companies using industrial sugars to produce sweets, cakes and ice cream, also known as confectioneries, to ascertain that what was being used was not brought under the duty-free window. “The issue of the industrial sugar expired on June 30. However, some products still cannot access the partner states,” said Mr Gudka. KAM members also met Tanzanian official to iron out longstanding trade disputes, including lack of preferential status on edible oil products, cement and lubricants. CS Aden said there were...

The current mismatch between capital seeking profitable ventures and the chronic deficit of large-scale investments in Africa can be addressed through closer collaboration with institutions such as the World Bank Group. This was said by President Paul Kagame on Tuesday during the opening of a two-day Development Finance Forum hosted by the World Bank Group in Kigali. Kagame said that despite the strong prospects in Africa in regards to investment opportunities, there exists a mismatch between capital seeking investment and large-scale investment funding. “In the global context, there is an excess of capital looking for profitable ventures such as these as we all know. Yet in Africa, there is a chronic deficit of large-scale investment funding. That is what we are here to address in practical terms,” he said. To make up for the mismatch and change status quo, the President called for close collaboration with the World Bank Group. The Group’s private sector support arm International Finance Cooperation, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which offer targeted interventions to change status quo such as risk guarantee facilities. “We still have a long way to go but the direction of travel is clear and the necessary partnerships are increasingly in place. Among the most important is Africa’s partnership with the institutions that make up the World Bank Group,” he said. Kagame, who is also African Union chairperson, called on countries to make the most of the organisation’s expertise in aspects such as regulatory reforms and private sector development. “The heart of...

East African Community (EAC) member states are rushing against time to review and harmonise the Common External Tariffs (CET) to improve intra-trade initiatives and ease cost of doing business in the regional bloc. This comes amid concerns in Kenya over regional trade balance which declined sharply beginning 2012-2017, from Sh122 billion in 2012 to Sh71 billion last year, a 58 per cent dip. In that period, imports to Kenya from the region increased almost five fold from Sh13 billion in 2008 to Sh61 billion in 2017. In the past one year, each of the six member states has been carrying out comprehensive national reviews of their external tariffs and evaluating the impact of tariff regimes in relation to member states’ development objectives. According to Kenya’s Cabinet Sevretary for East African Community Aden Mohamed, members of the regional economic bloc have formed task forces to collect and analyse data and come up with a list of the goods that may require protection and applicable tariffs. “At the moment each country is reviewing their own common external tariffs, consolidate and harmonise the laws with a view to ensuring that they are consistent with the EAC laws. By next year June 30, we will have a regional forum to review the laws and tariffs from each state and harmonise them so that we can improve intra-trade in the region,” the CS said. CET is normally introduced by countries operating within a common union to end the re-exportation of goods imported goods within the...

President Paul Kagame has told a World Bank Financing Forum in Rwanda that Africa is on the right track to attain its investment targets, despite remaining with some distance to move Addressing the World Bank’s annual Development Finance Forum in Kigali on September 11, Kagame said that in Africa, there’s a chronic deficit of large scale economic funding but such forums by development partners signal there are a positive way to development. The World Bank’s forum brings together public and private sector leaders to explore initiatives towards increasing private sector investments in East Africa’s priority sectors. This year’s two-day forum taking place at Marriott Hotel Kigali has picked Agribusiness, Tourism and Housing as key priorities for funding in East Africa. “The three priority areas have been chosen with consideration. Housing finance, tourism and agribusiness are all expanding rapidly in our region. These industries can energize the economy as a whole particularly the service sector,” Kagame told delegates at the forum. He, however, reminded that the region and the continent as whole still lack the capacity to produce high quality products. “But despite the strong prospects we are far from tapping the full potential or even meeting existing demand for affordable high-quality products,” he said. But President Kagame added: “It is gratifying to see such strong participation from around East Africa and even beyond joining the very substantial delegation from the World Bank Group. The focus this year is investment opportunities in the East African Community.” “The heart of the Bank’s...

The conference, which will be hosted in Kenya for the first time, will be held at the Pride Inn Hotel in Shanzu Mombasa from Tuesday to Friday this week. Kenya Ports Authority acting Managing Director, Daniel Manduku, said over 40 countries will be represented at the conference. The experts are expected to present about 100 highly technical research papers on maritime, shipping and port issues. KPA Human Resources General Manager, Amani Komora, adds that Kenya and Africa will immensely benefit from the deliberations of the conference. “The annual IAME conference is an opportunity for academicians and maritime experts and practitioners to meet and discuss current and emerging research issues and contribute to the development of maritime economics and disciplines,” said Manduku. The issues of piracy and security, fishing in the high seas, inland waters, port matters and generally all issues around the blue economy will be part of the discussion. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia will on Wednesday officially open the conference, whose theme is, “Sustainable Maritime, Port and Logistics Industries in Emerging Economies: Towards a Path of Blue Economy.” According to the conference programme, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi will on Wednesday give a keynote address covering technical aspects. KPA Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, Martin Mutuku, who is also the chairperson of the IAME local organizing committee, said the over 100 research papers that will be presented in the conference are significant to Kenya. “The conference is expected...

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) will embark on another bid to woo investors during the forthcoming regional business conference following a sharp drop in foreign direct investments (FDIs) to the bloc in the last two years. Statistics released here last week indicate that FDI inflows to the six-nation bloc went down to $6.6 billion last year from $8.8 billion in 2016, a 25.3 per cent drop. The situation is equally not rosy for intra-EAC investments during the same period. They plunged by 22.3 per cent from $254.1 million in 2016 to $197 million last year. Existing business opportunities in the region aimed to counter the declining trend will be key during the third East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition slated for Kampala, Uganda end of next month. “The conference will showcase investment opportunities in the region,” said Lilian Awinja, the chief executive officer of the East African Business Council (EABC), which is organising the event. Statistics issued by EABC and seen by The Citizen showed another worrying scenario – decline of combined exports from the region to the outside world by 9 per cent from $16.2 billion in 2016 to $14.3 billion last year. No reasons were given by the Arusha-based business body on the reasons for the sharp fall of investments from abroad to the bloc. Efforts to reach officials at the EAC Secretariat to comment on the same were not successful although one of them downplayed the statistics, saying the region was still attractive to...

Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) has put in place an elaborate programme to improve road infrastructure to enhance traffic flow around the port of Mombasa. Mega infrastructure developments are taking shape in Mombasa that are set to enhance its image as the gateway to East and Central Africa and as a tourism hub. The ongoing construction and upgrade of infrastructural projects worth billions of shillings were aimed at facilitating transportation of goods and passengers and boost the economy of the coastal city. In the past, Mombasa, which is a hub for shipping activities, suffered from serious traffic bottlenecks which hindered the flow of cargo in and out of the port of Mombasa. KeNHA’s coast regional director Eng. Jared Makori says a number of projects to expand the capacity of existing roads and upgrades would significantly ease traffic for all commuters going in and out of Mombasa Island. “The upgrades will significantly ease traffic thereby reducing travel time and improving productivity,” he said. The huge road projects completed include the expansion of the Sh6 billion airport-Port Reitz, Magongo and Mombasa-Miritini roads into dual carriageways, interchanges and overpasses. Eng. Makori said other road projects taking shape included the dual carriageway of the Mombasa-Mariakani Highway, Dongo-Kundu Bypass and Mombasa Northern Bypass which were set to increase Mombasa port efficiency. He noted that the construction of the new roads and upgrading of the existing ones would help reduce travel time, improve connectivity as well as improve socio-economic activities in the coastal counties of Mombasa,...

United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May's three-day whirlwind tour of sub-Saharan Africa on a mission to strengthen Britain’s post-Brexit trade and investment may not offer much to the continent after it became apparent that the UK will be planning to roll over "copycat" European Union agreements with African nations. In her first stop in South Africa, the Prime Minister announced plans to carry over the European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the five member Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) once the EU’s deal no longer applies to the UK. “I am announcing an additional $5.2 billion of UK investment in African economies, with the hope of further matching investment from the private sector to come. I’m also delighted that we will today confirm plans to carry over EU’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern African Customs Union and also bring in Mozambique, once the EU’s deal no longer applies to the UK,” PM May said, adding that she is planning to push UK to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa in the next four years. For the region, this comes as an anti-climax given that it had hoped that the visit would be part of an attempt at a new African trade deal. It had been hoped that her visit to Kenya would push for improved trade relations, given that the share has been declining continuously for both countries. In July, the UK Trade Commissioner for Africa Emma Wade-Smith said that post-Brexit, Britain would push for lowering...

China will this week host a forum where development projects for the next three years will be discussed. African leaders are going to Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) Summit, hoping to get financing for their mega infrastructure projects. The summit themed "China and Africa: Towards an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation," is meant to link the Belt and Road Initiative with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the AU’s Agenda 2063 and individual countries' development plans. But it comes at a time when some African countries are grappling with an external debt burden and a trade balance favouring Beijing. Credit rating firms and global financial institutions have been advising against taking out further loans, instead recommending fiscal consolidation to arrest the ballooning debt. Kenya, for instance, had taken over $5 billion from China as at the end of March 2018 while Uganda owed China $1.6 billion. Kenya’s National Treasury has recently been under pressure to slow down the growth of public debt, with the International Monetary Fund raising its concerns. Related Content If Beijing sneezes, East Africa will catch a bad cold Comesa defends deals with China Why Asian giants have eyes on resource rich EA China can deliver African continent’s growth miracle Even then, East African Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda — who is also the African Union chairman — Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya are expected to attend the summit and seek financing for their...