WITH the outbreak of Covid- 19, the East African Business Council has advised the East African partner states to consider allowing free movement of both essential and non-essential goods within and outside the region. The outbreak of coronavirus has increased restriction on the movement of goods and people across borders threatening the livelihoods of traders and their families, and reduced revenue for partner states.Also, this has caused a significant disruption in the global value chains with China being the hub of manufacturing for most business operations. The EACBC said in its report on the impact of Covid-19 on trade that the spillover effect of this disruption has been felt by other African economies and largely by East African businesses being suppliers and importers of goods and services in the global economy. As part of the immediate recovery strategy, the EACBC counseled partner states to consider full liberalisation of open skies for free movement of cargo within and out of EAC. Also that member states look for alternative markets for EAC imports and exports to reduce dependency on a few countries. On average, EAC countries source 6 per cent of their total imports from the region, and supply 20 per cent of their total exports to the region.The cross border trade has emerged as a remedy that could reduce this adversity through flow of essential goods like food, medical supplies and other hygiene products. “Its importance to the economies of EAC is due to the characteristic nature of crossborder trade being...

On April 27th this year, President Yoweri Museveni met with representatives from Tanzania led by the Managing Director of Kagera Sugar Limited, Seif Ally Seif to finalise exportation of 20,000 Metric Tonnes of brown sugar to the United Republic of Tanzania by the end of May 2020. This was shortly after the President had assented to the Sugar Act, 2020 into law. However, with the surging number of COVID 19 cases especially in the United Republic of Tanzania and the rising cases of cross border truck drivers testing positive for COVID 19, puts a question on how the 20,000 Metric Tonnes of surplus brown sugar will safely be exported without risking Ugandan Truck Drivers who may cross into Tanzania. “Everything here can grow easily except that we have been lagging behind because of the politics of identity and primitive farming methods based on a subsistence way of life. With some sensitization now, Ugandans are waking up and so we are able to have a surplus,” the President said while flagging off the first consignment, which has opened up market opportunities for the Ugandan sugar millers who have surplus production late last April. However, Uganda’s Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde said the sugar export is a relief for the Ugandan millers who have been trying to penetrate the Tanzanian market for a long time adding that Port Bell to Mwanza will be the transportation medium as it is safer and cheaper. She said subsequent exports will be made in due course. This subsequently...

Rwanda says it is working with Tanzanian authorities to quell cross border protests by drivers who are opposing new measures introduced by Rwanda to curb the spread of New Coronavirus by blocking trucks driven by Rwandan drivers to move. Videos of Rwandan truck drivers being attacked by groups of people inside Tanzania, said to be truck drivers, who are opposed to recent measures introduced by the Government of Rwanda aimed at stopping cross border transmission of COVID-19 by the truck drivers and their assistants, have been making rounds on social media platforms. Under the new measures, Tanzanian truck drivers are expected to drive the trucks up to Rusumo border post where they hand them over to their Rwandan counterparts who take the goods up to their final destination.  The measure was put in place after cross border truck drivers and their assistants were increasingly testing positive of new coronavirus. The move was protested by Tanzanian truck drivers who did not feel comfortable handing over their trucks and goods destined for Rwanda to other drivers, despite assurances by authorities and Private Sector Federation (PSF). Some of the drivers said the move would render them jobless and affect their incomes. Addressing the situation on Tuesday, the Minister of State for Health in Charge of Primary Healthcare, Dr Tharcisse Mpunga, said that the government is aware of the situation and is working with Tanzanian authorities to find solutions.  “The government is aware of the situation. As you might know, the country has put...

Social networks have become an integral part of our day to day lives and it is really difficult to imagine our lives without it. The Crypto industry itself is no stranger to the disruptive capabilities of social media as it has thrived on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram etc. However, the centralised nature of these platforms has seen growing concerns regarding the safety of one’s personal data and privacy.  With recent scandals involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, people have started to question the privacy policies of these internet giants impose on their users and how they utilize user data. Privacy, which is an innate human right, is no more in the control of the people. Creators have lost control over their content, and unfair censorships have hampered growth and development of emerging industries like crypto and blockchain. This has fuelled the move towards uncensored social networks, with the crypto community leading the revolution. IOTA powered social network In order to overcome the various discrepancies, the SOCIETY2 team has proposed a social network powered by IOTA’s distributed ledger technology, which returns control of data, privacy and identity to the users of the platform. Developed on the IOTA network, SOCIETY2 enables the construction of decentralized social networks, taking the use of DLT beyond finance. The primary goal here is to allow social network users to regain authority of their data and personal information that they share on the internet. The user data will be stored securely on IOTA’s Tangle network and the information will be completely portable....

CHIEF executive officers of national private sector apex body associations of the East African Community (EAC), have called for swift action to overcome impediments to cross-border cargo movement in the region. Noting the importance of the free movement of cargo across the EAC partner states during the current Covid-19 pandemic in their meeting, the officers from the six member countries of the regional grouping have recommended that they should implement a coordinated regional approach for facilitating free movement of cargo. They want to see leaders ensure that health measures do not cause unnecessary cost and time burden to the free movement of goods and services across borders in the region. Plus, that there should be facilitation of free movement of cargo from the point of origin to the destination. Under the coordination of the East African B usiness Council (EAB C), the CEOs called upon the states to ensure that cargo flows smoothly and a relay system and transshipments of cargo is adopted. They noted that the process does not lead to exorbitant costs that could adversely affect transporters and consequently consumers. We call for issuance of certificates to truck drivers valid for a period of at least two weeks. The certificate notwithstanding, the drivers will also undergo mandatory temperature checks at the designated checkpoints. “ Ensure that all clearing and forwarding services loading and offloading equipment, as well as warehousing facilities are available at the borders to reduce border clearance time. Embark on rapid testing and joint border management....

A blockbuster African trade deal is unlikely to be implemented before early next year, an official said on Friday, after the disruption caused by the new coronavirus made the current July 1 deadline unworkable.Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area, told Reuters that while only the heads of state of the 55-member AfCFTA could sanction changes to the deadlines, the cancelled summit between leaders planned for May in South Africa left few options. “It is only after the summit that you can say we have a new trading date. The next opportunity of a summit is on 2 January 2021,” Mene said.The continental free-trade zone would, if successful, become the largest since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994, stitching 1.3 billion people together in a $3.4 trillion economic bloc. Mene’s role is effectively chief adviser to government leaders, who hold the exclusive right to approve all parts of the deal and its implementation. He has advised them to defer the July 1 implementation deadline due to the extraordinary circumstances. It would have required nations to liberalize at least 97 per cent of their tariff lines and 90 per cent of imports. Mene is instead advising them to allow free movement of goods, despite borders being closed to human traffic as part of virus containment efforts, and to allow zero duties on 40 specific goods that would help combat the virus, such as soap, disinfectant and personal protective gear. “The current circumstances simply are not...

African Business leaders have appealed to governments to take the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) deal negotiations on July 1 seriously to enable the continent is to economically recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The call comes just two days before the planned African Union (AU) ministerial meeting to be held on the May 5-6th that will be discussing the trade response to Covid-19 and the state of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Ahead of the meeting, business leaders have petitioned heads of state to uphold the AfCTA deal discussion deadline in which member states are supposed to make a landmark decision on the trade agreements to kick start business between each other. The commencement of trading within the AfCFTA is slated for 1st July 2020. Driven by President Paul Kagame, the AcFTA deal that was signed in Kigali on March 21st 2018 by several countries (over 50) and July 1 was set for the agreement to come into force. To push the deal, business leaders, through the AfroChampions network, have signed a petition a joint letter in response to rumours in international media that the AfCFTA date of July 1 will be postponed until next year. The AfroChampions network was mandated by the African Union to coordinate private sector discussions around the AfCFTA. One of the signatories of the letter, Paulo Gomes, the former Executive Director of the World Bank and Chair of Executive committee of AfroChampions said that ministers meeting next week had a duty to...

Africa’s extreme vulnerability to the disruption of international supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to reduce the continent’s dependence on non-African trading partners and unlock Africa’s business potential. While African countries are right to focus their energy on managing the immediate health crisis, they must not lose sight of finalizing the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which can be a tool to help them do just that. Africa’s economy is highly dependent on international markets—for both its imports and exports. Given that an estimated 53 percent of African imports originate in countries that have been highly impacted by COVID-19, the pandemic is interrupting the region’s access to critical products. With two-thirds of African countries being net importers of food and medicine, global trade restrictions and cross-border blockages risk creating shortages and increasing the cost of items essential to mitigate the immediate effects of the pandemic. At the same time, global supply chain disruptions are expected to result in export earnings losses of $101 billion, with an estimated $65 billion for oil-producing countries and massive hits in other export sectors, such as the garment and cut-flower industries. Similarly, the pandemic has seriously disrupted key services industries on the continent, including tourism, transport, and logistics services. The operational launch of the AfCFTA—originally scheduled for July 2020—is now postponed. The next round of negotiations, scheduled for May 30, will likely not happen before November or December. Wamkele Mene, the newly elected secretary-general of the AfCFTA Secretariat, has noted that...

In 2019, Africa remained the leading destination of Kenya’s exports accounting for 37.6 per cent of the total exports at Sh224.2 billion, with exports to East African Community partner states, accounting for 62.6 per cent of the total exports to Africa. This is according to the recent economic survey 2020 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The region is followed by Europe which is the country’s second-leading export destination with 25.4 per cent of the total exports at Sh151.3 billion. The data carves a sculpture of the sprouting fruits of the efforts put in place by the East African Community (EAC) treaty which aims to accelerate economic integration and political development of the 6 partner states. The community has for decades now been working on a system that will facilitate the achievement of the monetary union (having a single currency in the community) and ultimately a political federation of East African countries. All these steps together with the customs union and common market which have already been established will see that economies of trade are achieved, command respect and a stronger voice in the world community and improve social interactions between states. “Exports to African countries was Sh224.2 billion in 2019 with Uganda remaining the leading export destination, accounting for 28.6 per cent of total exports to Africa,” reads the report by KNBS. Exports to Rwanda and Tanzania also increased by 29.9 per cent and 13.0 per cent, respectively increasing the exports to EAC by 8.0 per cent to...

Informality is pervasive across the developing world. It is estimated that a substantial share (30%-40%) of Africa’s regional trade is informal, and that four times as many cross border traders are likely to be operating outside the formal economy than within it. Cross-border trade can encourage entrepreneurial activity and regional trade integration, and create employment opportunities for vulnerable groups. In fact, a key feature of informal cross-border trade is that most traders are women, for whom such trade is often their main or even only source of income. UNCTAD’s research found that African cross-border traders, especially women, face various obstacles that hinder their growth opportunities. Obstacles at the border include poor facilities, cumbersome processes, weak governance, payment of undue fees, harassment, bribery, and corruption. Traders also face supply-side barriers, such as misinformation about customs procedures and regulations, lack of access to capital and assets, limited literacy and entrepreneurial skills, among others. Moreover, when crossing the border through unofficial paths, female traders can be subject to fines, confiscation of goods, and sexual assault. Among these obstacles, access to finance was identified as one of the most pressing challenges for traders. However, field findings also show that most women traders have a mobile phone, which can open up opportunities to enable them to become financially included. Innovative technologies like mobile-phone-enabled solutions can expand access to basic financial services. Mobile money, for example, enables individuals to store and transact money in digital form without the need of a bank account. Research has also...