Kenya is staring at tough times ahead as the diplomatic row between Uganda and Rwanda continues unabated. Nairobi has expressed concerns that a prolonged diplomatic row between the two hinterland states will hurt trade, a move that could also affect business at the port of Mombasa which is a key entry and exit point for cargo traded along the Northern Corridor. Both the government and the business community have admitted the effects of the tiff have been felt in the country with the business community suffering the most, as Uganda comes out to accuse Rwanda of imposing a trade embargo. The standoff which escalated a fortnight ago is now threatening trade along the Northern Corridor, which runs from the Port of Mombasa to Rwanda and Burundi through Nairobi, Malaba and Uganda. East African Community and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed expressed concern that if the standoff between the two states continues, it would hurt trade along the corridor which is heavily served by the port of Mombasa, with spiraling effects being felt in the entire East African Community. “The Northern Corridor is a very important part of our trade programme. The Port of Mombasa, through Kampala up to Kigali is a corridor that is absolutely important. If there are any blockages along the border points, it is likely to be disruptive,” the CS warned. Doing business Adan, however, said the good thing about East Africa is if something happens at the border, leaders talk and those things are resolved and life...

The government has allayed concerns of consumer price increases following the travel restrictions on the borders with Uganda which disrupted supply of goods, causing shortage of foods and key households items. Until Wednesday, consumers grappled with high prices of commodities imported from Uganda even as traders decried delayed orders meaning local markets were yet to get substitutes for foods which since stopped coming in. The Ministry of Trade and Industry, however, said the situation was under control with orders being expedited at the borders to ensure there is no shortage of goods. “We are working with Rwanda Revenue Authority to make sure that those orders are prioritised at the border,” Ms Soraya Hakuziyaremye told Rwanda Today. Ms Hakuziyaremye argued that the rise in prices was as a result of speculators seeking to profit from the crisis, something the ministry had warned traders against. She confirmed that there was no truck still stranded at the border with Uganda as all of them were let in. Besides, traders with urgent orders were going through the ministry to be assisted with options, including seeking alternative markets with the help of Rwanda Development Board and diplomatic missions abroad. “This is a situation we monitor so that there is no shortage of goods. We intend to do inspections to detect traders hoarding goods and to contain that speculation,” she said. Source: Rwanda Today

When the Africa Continental Free Trade Area is implemented this year, it will create a single market for goods and services for the first time in the continent’s history. The agreement will cover a geographic area with a combined GDP of $3.2 trillion and a population of 1.2 billion people. It has the potential to drastically accelerate economic growth and exceed the African Development Bank’s current estimates for GDP growth from $1.7 trillion in 2010 to more than $15 trillion by 2060. This has the potential to shift Africa from being an aid-dependent continent to becoming an investment-dependent continent. According to the Brookings Institute, African foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows accounted for only 2.9 percent of total global FDI inflows in 2017, compared to the 49.8 percent share for developed economies, and 10.6 percent for Latin America and the Caribbean. A continental super bloc has the potential of creating an attractive value proposition for investors who are dealing with the fallout from Brexit, a U.S.-China tariff war and a global economy that is falling short of projected growth targets. For African governments, businesses and citizens, the prospect of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area has prompted widespread excitement and optimism, especially among some of Africa’s leading business and political figures. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said: “Speaking with one voice as a continent will emerge as perhaps the most important provision of all for the success of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.” South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly stated: “This...

President Emmanuel Macron embarked on a four-day trip to the Horn of Africa nations last week, with the visit largely seen as part of attempts by France to cement new ties in a region where China's influence has been growing fast. Macron’s trip to Africa was meant to boost trade with Ethiopia and Kenya, two countries that were never a French colony. Djibouti, the third country he visited, was formerly under colonial rule and hosts foreign military bases for both Paris and Beijing. In the first visit by a French president to Kenya since its independence in 1963, Macron concluded his trip with the announcement of an estimated $3.4 billion worth of deals with the East African powerhouse. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta confirmed in a statement on Thursday that an agreement with a "French consortium" had been reached on a series of major works to boost the African country’s transport network.   Macron described his country as a “credible economic partner,” and hailed the agreement with Kenya as a “new partnership in economy." The visit, however, was denounced by some Kenyans as “real stumbling blocks to the development in Africa.” At a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the French president announced a military agreement in which Paris would lend $96 million to Addis Ababa to support the establishment of a navy for the landlocked country. Ethiopia has access to the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea ports as a result of deals with neighbors Djibouti and Sudan. Upon...

All is not sitting well within the East African region. The intrigues and manoeuvrings that have recently characterised Uganda, Rwanda ties must be addressed promptly and expeditiously.  Leaders of the five East African Community member states — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and later incorporating Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan — and the secretariat bloc have worked hard, setting goals beneficial to the region of about 172 million people, also its key resource.  President Uhuru Kenyatta was over the weekend engaged in shuttle diplomacy aimed at dousing rising voltage between Rwanda and Uganda which have in recent months seen the two fraternal countries trade accusations that ran counter to their mutual interests and those of the bloc.     East African leaders, who form the EAC Summit can ill afford to let their eyes off the ball. And for those in this region the focus, if anybody needed reminding, is the raft of protocols namely the Customs Union, the Common Market, the Monetary Union and ultimately Political Confederation, which anchor the regional dream.  Admittedly, there have been bottlenecks in implementation of the protocols with individual countries tempted to work on their own, thus slowing down integration objectives. This trend has prompted business executives to call on political authorities to show more commitment and catalyse implementation of policies that speed up free movement of goods and people. Uganda and Rwanda, today appear inexplicably on different orbits, with each accusing the other of espionage, unlawful detention of each others citizens, supporting rebels and trade sabotage.  Meanwhile, access...

Rwanda alone, Kenya alone,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta last week, “will not make it, but together, we have tremendous potential to succeed.” Mr Kenyatta had just met Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali in what insiders say was shuttle diplomacy to douse the fires caused by a diplomatic spat between President Kagame and one time ally-turned-foe President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Each side believes the other is plotting to cause mayhem. President Kenyatta then crossed over to Uganda where it is feared a meeting between him and his host, yielded no fruit. Mr Kenyatta’s trip was precipitated by Rwanda’s closure of Gatuna (Katuna in Uganda), a border post in the Southwest region of Uganda. Late last month, Kigali blockaded the border point and even issued a travel advisory to its nationals not to cross into Uganda for what it termed security reasons, gravely curtailing the movement of goods and services across the two countries. We cannot begrudge the Rwanda government its responsibility to warn its citizens of impending danger anywhere. But we hasten to urge caution and ways and means to a quick resolution to the issues at hand. The border matters because it is a trade route to the Rwanda market. This move has hurt businesses, including Kenya’s. Goods cleared at Mombasa Port pass through the post. As such, any hiccup leads to a backlog that could hit traders hard and affect the operations of not just the port, but also the Sh360 billion SGR; President Kenyatta’s brainchild. Less...

Relations between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to get better and better, the Minister of Foreign Affair Dr Richard Sezibera has said. Sezibera’s comments follow the visit to Rwanda by DR Congo’s Director of Cabinet, Vital Kamerhe, which focused on strengthening bilateral relations. “We see that our relations are good and continue getting better and better, be it in cooperation and curtailing those who wish to destabilise Rwanda’s security that are [based] in Congo,” Sezibera said Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual retreat for Rwandan Ambassadors. Kigali sees bilateral trade activities between the two countries going on well and their respective leaders want it to be sustained, Sezibera said. Following Kamerhe visit, Rwanda invited DR Congo President, Félix Tshisekedi, to this year’s edition of the Africa CEO forum in Kigali, which is due in two weeks. Source: The New Times

Vibrant sustainable economies require the full inclusion and participation of all citizens and especially women, a joint statement by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and TradeMark Africa (TMA) has said. This should be anchored on creating opportunities for decent work driven by innovation and infrastructure development. Revenue authorities, due to their strategic role in trade within countries, are best positioned to initiate and marshal women participation in trade. TMA and URA made the statement while signing an MOU on Wednesday afternoon, during TMA’s celebration of Women’s Day. International Women’s Day is celebrated globally on 8th March. According to a World Bank Group’s Women, Business and Law 2018 report, released last year in March, governments in 65 economies took steps to improve women’s economic inclusion, enacting 87 legal reforms in the past two years. However, women continue to face widespread barriers, entrenched in laws that keep them out of jobs and prevent them from owning a business by restricting their access to credit or control over marital property, says the biennial report, which now monitors 189 economies. The report finds that in 104 economies women are barred from working at night or in certain jobs in many areas, including manufacturing, construction, energy, agriculture, water and transportation. This negatively affects the choices of more than 2.7 billion women. “No economy can grow to its full potential unless women and men participate fully,” said World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva. “Yet in more than half the world women are still prevented from working in certain...

When the Africa Continental Free Trade Area is implemented this year, it will create a single market for goods and services for the first time in the continent’s history. The agreement will cover a geographic area with a combined GDP of $3.2-trillion and a population of 1.2 billion people. It has the potential to drastically accelerate economic growth and exceed the African Development Bank’s current estimates for GDP growth from $1.7-trillion in 2010 to more than $15-trillion by 2060. This has the potential to shift Africa from being an aid-dependent continent to becoming an investment-dependent continent. According to the Brookings Institute, African foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows accounted for only 2.9% of total global FDI inflows in 2017, compared to the 49.8% share for developed economies, and 10.6% for Latin America and the Caribbean. A continental super bloc has the potential of creating an attractive value proposition for investors who are dealing with the fallout from Brexit, a US-China tariff war and a global economy that is falling short of projected growth targets. For African governments, businesses and citizens, the prospect of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has prompted widespread excitement and optimism, especially among some of Africa’s leading business and political figures. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said: “Speaking with one voice as a continent will emerge as perhaps the most important provision of all for the success of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.” South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly stated that “this is a free trade...

The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) could soon gather the minimum required ratifications to put it into effect. So far, 19 countries have ratified the agreement with three more expected to ratify by mid this year, effectively gathering the 22 ratifications that are needed to make the agreement operational. While this will not pave way for its immediate implementation, it will usher in another phase of negotiations among signatories on aspects of the agreement. The negotiations will involve multiple and complex issues which could take months and will cover aspects such as rules of origin, procurement processes, services protocols and tariff negotiations among others. Experts say that once the ratifications meet the required minimum, the AfCFTA secretariat will among other things have to prioritise negotiations to make way for implementation. The target for the implementation is mid-2020. Andrew Mold, the Acting Director of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa- Eastern Africa Sub-regional office said negotiations will lay out key aspects of implementation. “The complexity of the negotiation process is that there is a lot to be discussed; the devil is in the detail. It is not simply merchandised trade, we are talking services protocol, government procurement process, competition. There is a lot to be discussed to make the single market work,” Mold said in an interview. Considering multiple parties (countries) to be involved in the negotiations, there have been concerns about the length of time of the process with most fearing that it could be a major setback...