It is no brainer that many foreign countries have been eyeing Africa for trade and investments purposes. Africa is known of its rich mineral land and unexploited resources that mother countries have lacked required capital and technical skills to do it themselves from oil, diamonds, gold not to mention all the agricultural products such as coffee, tea, cocoa etc. United States of America, one among the biggest ranked economies in the world has had interests in doing business in Africa since time immemorial, at the time when Vice President Richard Nixon after winding his trip in Africa recommended to then President Dwight Eisenhower of the greater potential of drawing attention in Investing in Africa and so has been that not with U.S.A but the likes of China, United Kingdom, and other countries such as Japan as had their good sharable investment steps in doing business in the continent. The Obama administration championed to suite U.S. initiatives by Introducing and running a campaign of Doing Business in Africa, Power Africa, and Trade Africa, while the Trump Administration transformed the Overseas Private Investment Corporation into the Development Finance Corporation, beginning negotiations for a free trade agreement with Kenya, and launched Prosper Africa – a U.S. government initiative that was meant to increase trade and investment between the United States and Africa. However, the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance that was formed by the current U.S administration headed by President Biden made its way clear of partnering with dynamic and fast-growing African economies...

The government is satisfied with the work at the port of Mombasa and refuted allegations of congestion at the facility. National Development Implementation Technical Committee [NDITC] on the port efficiency and congestion resolution chairman Karanja Kibicho said the presentations at Kenya Ports Authority [KPA] board room are accurate before embarking on an inspection tour of the port of Mombasa facility over allegations of congestion. He said congestion at the port is not an issue and the government is not worried as they are happy with the work at the facility. He said the port handles four types of cargo with local consignments supposed to be removed to their points of destination. “The is different from cargo for transshipment and transit to neighboring countries,” he said. Kibicho refuted claims in the mainstream and social media that the facility is congested after the fact finding tour. He spoke during a media briefing after the fact finding tour at the port of Mombasa. The NDITC chairperson said they had tried to see how each component is being handled arguing they were unable to detect any congestion. Kibicho, who is interior principal secretary and who was accompanied by his Shipping and Maritime Affairs counterpart Nancy Karigithu and Industrial Commercial Development Corporations (ICDU) Chair John Ngumi, told journalists they are determined to ensure they improve on space of cargo being evacuated at the port. He said they never saw or detected any congestion at the county facility and at the Marshal yard the standard gauge...

THE Eastern and Southern Africa small-scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) convened a meeting recently which brought together stakeholders from the private sector and government to discuss the Southern African Development Community (SADC) vision 2050 and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020–2030. Participants to the conference which was themed: “Tanzania Awareness National Dialogue on the new SADC Vision 2050 and RISDP 2020-2030” came up with a number of policy recommendations geared to ensure successful implementation of the agreed development plans. The virtual meeting was supported by Southern Africa Trust (SAT) and German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). They suggested for SADC member states to speed up ratification and domestication of all SADC protocols and programmes at the national level including the SADC Development Fund and SADC Agriculture Development Funds. Stakeholders also advised the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation to fast track the formation of the Tanzania SADC National Committee (SNC) as well as ensure fully participation of Non-State Actors (NSA) including the private sector, civil society organizations, farmer organizations and the media in the national and regional development agenda. On the RISDP 2020-2030, they suggested that SADC member states including Tanzania recognize and domesticate the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019-2028 which aims to shed new light on the important role family farmers play in eradicating hunger. Governments to increase joint trading by ensuring every member state identifies products of its comparative advantage to trade within the block. The stakeholders pushed for...

A shipping line has suspended its port congestion surcharge it introduced last month, offering relief to traders who continue to decry inefficiencies and delays at the Mombasa facility. CMA CGM, one of the leading shipping groups in East Africa and the third biggest worldwide container carrier, introduced the fees in February, for all cargo to and from Mombasa except that from China, to meet the additional costs it incurred as a result of delays. The liner charged Sh5,000 per 20 feet container and Sh10,000 per 40 feet container from Mombasa to other worldwide destinations for the same kind of cargo. For cargo from global port states to Mombasa, traders paid Sh15,000 per 20 feet container and Sh30,000 per 40 feet container. Port stakeholders say the fee suspension will lower the cost of business but challenged Mombasa port operators to streamline operations to end congestion which has remained unresolved since the beginning of this year. “We are happy that port congestion surcharge to all cargo which was introduced by shipping lines about a month ago has been scrapped after long discussions but the rate of cargo uptake to Nairobi and other hinterland regions remains a major issue which needs to be addressed,” said Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA) chief executive officer Gilbert Langat. Mr Langat said an increase in vessels calling at the port from Asia against inadequate numbers of wagons using the standard gauge railway (SGR) to ferry the cargo from Mombasa to Nairobi was a major setback that...

Technological advancements, financial sector innovations and recent health threats like the Coronavirus have fuelled a greater reliance and need for digital trade and online shopping. The surge in E-Commerce globally has resulted in the need for efficient payment and data management systems. The adoption of data centres provides a data management system solution that allows for efficient payment across e-commerce platforms.   What are data centres? Data centres are ICT command centres used by various businesses to provide cloud storage, data processing and applications support services. These are useful to ensure safe, efficient and reliable online markets. IT penetration in Africa is the major determinant of the growth and development of data centres. Economic and administrative prioritisation has not been directed towards investments in IT infrastructure. A norm that IT investments are concerns for the private sector and not for the government prevails throughout the continent. As such, the continent is falling behind in IT penetration as government efforts lag behind that of the private sector. Infrastructure development in IT by the private sector has hugely promoted e-commerce. With the growth of digital business, there has been a wave by organisations to develop data centres to better handle the digital sphere of doing business. Most of these data centres have been adopted in Africa’s biggest markets, like Nigeria and South Africa. This sophisticated avenue of ICT is an emerging employment sector. A competent labour force with adequate skills is required to ensure efficient management of data centres. Investment in ICT infrastructure Global...

Kenya's growth outlook is positive with the economy projected to grow 5 per cent in 2021, according to the latest African Development Ban African economy outlook. According to the development finance institution, the projection of Kenya's quick rebound assumes that economic activity will normalise due to the reopening of the economy. The successful implementation of the Economic Recovery Strategy and the country capitalising on an expected improvement in external liquidity and benefiting from initiatives to meet its external financing needs will also aid the positive growth. The external initiatives could include debt refinancing, restructuring and debt service relief, and additional concessional loans. The financial institution's projection is however lower than that of the National Treasury and World Bank. The two have projected the economic growth to rebound from 0.6 per cent  last year to 6.4 and 6.9 per cent respectively. According to World Bank, Kenya’s GDP rebound will be the fastest in the East African Community where Rwanda is forecast to expand by 5.7 per cent, Tanzania 5.5 per cent, Uganda 2.8 per cent, Burundi two per cent while South Sudan is projected to contract 3 per cent. From the outlook, inflation is projected to remain within the Central Bank of Kenya’s target range of 2.5 to 7.5 per cent, and fiscal and current account deficits are forecast to narrow as a result of improved revenue collection and exports. The outlook also shows that the country's growth in remittances could have also increased it's resilience to the Covid-19 shocks. Remittances to Africa declined from $85.8...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, has launched an online system to issue import and export permits and licenses in Kenya. The services will be provided by the Agriculture and Food Authority of Kenya (AFA), the government regulatory agency. The system was developed by AFA and TradeMark Africa (TMA) to automate agricultural business processes including issuance of permits and licensing. It has been named the AFA-Integrated Management Information System (AFA-IMIS), an 8-in-1 Single Window Information for Trade (SWIFT) system covering the certification and licensing of trade in cash crops. The system, according to AFA, will provide a platform for delivery of technical and advisory services, market research, product development, regulations and compliance functions for export and import of the cash crops. The development of the system was funded with a contribution of Ksh. 150 million ($1.37 million) by the Government of Denmark. The event was graced by Royal Danish Embassy Counsellor Morgen Strunge Larsen, AFA Director General Mr. Kello Harsama, TMA Senior Director for Trade Environment Mr. Alban Odhiambo and TMA Country Director Mr. Ahmed Farah HSC. Speaking at the event, Director General of AFA Kello Harsama said, “This system will help us serve the agriculture sector well. As AFA we are not only concerned with food that is coming into Kenya, but also food that is being produced in Kenya. Soon we will start surveillance on food grown in Kenya like tomatoes, to enforce regulations on pesticide use and ensure food supplied to markets from our farms...

As the UK forges a new set of global partnerships post-Brexit, questions remain over its commitment to the continent after the reduction in the aid budget. But the UK's minister for Africa James Duddridge argues that African countries see the UK as a long term partner and that historical and financial ties remain as strong as ever. The UK is in global diplomatic realignment, and not just in Europe. While the UK was close to the Chinese under previous prime minister David Cameron, the current executive under Boris Johnson is far closer to the US position; speaking up on the Uyghur genocide and on repression in Hong Kong, and backing away from including Chinese technology companies in core UK communications networks. Will this realignment be visible in Africa? Brexit diplomacy There is now a bloat of foreign powers seeking advantage on the continent, each bringing their own strengths: from the project financing of Chinese infrastructure providers, the technology of the Japanese, the price points of Turkish goods and the agribusiness competence of Brazil. “We are motoring”, says UK minister for Africa James Duddridge. He points to post-Brexit trade agreements signed with 15 African countries and the advantages that the UK can depend on, such as use of English, the attractiveness of the City of London and the long history of UK corporate engagement on the continent. “Yes, there are a lot of players, but more and more we’ll be working in consortium across countries, rather than just having a simple...

Summary Covid-19 is daunting, complex, and ubiquitous. It is not just a public health matter; but also affects progress in the fight against poverty in Africa, due to its direct impact on jobs and economic performance. We are living in times of great uncertainty, fuelled by the onset of Covid-19. Despite this, we have maintained our focus on supporting trade and building prosperity, creating jobs, and reducing poverty in eastern Africa. Covid-19 is daunting, complex, and ubiquitous. It is not just a public health matter; but also affects progress in the fight against poverty in Africa, due to its direct impact on jobs and economic performance. It has catalysed rethinking of global supply chains, shaken traditional patterns of partnerships, but also stimulated unanticipated innovation. It has magnified the importance of trade as a driver for development and building resilient economies. It is noteworthy that projected economic growth has more than halved in many countries, particularly in East Africa. TradeMark Africa has responded by creating a Covid-19 mitigation programme that leveraged our 10 years of experience, in addition to accelerate core programming with higher levels of innovation and forged new partnerships to address challenges to eastern Africa’s recovery. In 2019-20, we begun with an overview of the innovative Safe Trade Emergency Facility (Safe Trade) that we developed and rolled out when Covid-19 first hit East Africa. This was rolled out with the support of our development partners in the European Union, Finland, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The...

Over the past couple of years, mega infrastructure developments have been taking shape in Mombasa County geared towards enhancing its image as the gateway to East and Central Africa and as the tourism capital of the region. Prior to the multi-billion road projects, the county which is known as a hub for shipping activities, experienced setbacks in terms of traffic flow of cargo, in and out of the port of Mombasa. The construction of the new roads and upgrading of the existing ones has helped reduce travel time, improve connectivity as well as improve socio-economic activities in the coastal counties of Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi. New Mombasa Port. FILE Mombasa Southern Bypass - Dongo Kundu (Miritini - Mwache)  The 8.96 km dual carriageway project, was budgeted to cost Ksh25 billion and involved major road works including the construction of an interchange at the Likoni-Lunga Lunga highway. Phase one of the project costing Ksh11 billion was completed and opened at an event that was presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018. The project was designed to ease traffic pressure on the Likoni Ferry and decongest Mombasa Island. The Dongo Kundu Bypass in Mombasa TWITTER Phase two of the project involves the erection of two bridges: one at Mwache - spanning 660 metres, and another at Mteza straddling 1,440 metres. The Kenya Ports Authority is also set to establish a Special Economic Zone at Dongo Kundu which will coincide with the construction of phase three Dongo Kundu road expected to be completed by March 2021. A section o phase one of the Dongo-Kundu Bypass FILE...