When Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni opened the improved border crossing at Busia in February last year, they said they were implementing their commitment to expand trade by freeing movement of people. Known as the Busia One-Stop-Border Post, the crossing cost about Sh1.2 billion, with facilitation from the Trade Mark East Africa. But away from the dignitaries, media, pomp and colour, the Nation spent time with border communities to get a peak on what regional integration means for them. LIFE BEFORE At Buyengo village, deep in Busia on the Ugandan side, 67-year-old Alfred Mang’eni tells of a story of mixed parentage and a life unhindered by borders. Mang’eni is, technically a Ugandan resident. But he is Kenyan. His father is a Kenyan from Luchululo village in Samia Sub-County of Busia but he bought land in Jinja, Uganda where he was born with other six siblings. “Long time ago we could visit our relatives in Kenya without many restrictions. We used to cross via the lake using boats,” he told the Nation, as he massaged his beard. “At the moment a lot has changed and we have to produce documents to relevant authorities. At the main Busia border crossing, we were never issued with permits to grant us entry to Kenya or vice versa,” said Mr Mang’eni in his native Samia, a language also spoken in Funyula Constituency in Busia County. DIVIDED FAMILIES For the Samia, the border between Kenya and Uganda at Busia cut their villages right in the middle, dividing families...

When Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni opened the improved border crossing at Busia in February last year, they said they were implementing their commitment to expand trade by freeing movement of people. Known as the Busia One-Stop-Border Post, the crossing cost about Sh1.2 billion, with facilitation from the Trade Mark East Africa. But away from the dignitaries, media, pomp and colour, the Nation spent time with border communities to get a peak on what regional integration means for them. LIFE BEFORE At Buyengo village, deep in Busia on the Ugandan side, 67-year-old Alfred Mang’eni tells of a story of mixed parentage and a life unhindered by borders. Mang’eni is, technically a Ugandan resident. But he is Kenyan. His father is a Kenyan from Luchululo village in Samia Sub-County of Busia but he bought land in Jinja, Uganda where he was born with other six siblings. “Long time ago we could visit our relatives in Kenya without many restrictions. We used to cross via the lake using boats,” he told the Nation, as he massaged his beard. “At the moment a lot has changed and we have to produce documents to relevant authorities. At the main Busia border [crossing], we were never issued with permits to grant us entry to Kenya or vice versa,” said Mr Mang’eni in his native Samia, a language also spoken in Funyula Constituency in Busia County. DIVIDED FAMILIES For the Samia, the border between Kenya and Uganda at Busia cut their villages right in the middle, dividing families...

Uganda Sugar Manufacturers Association (USMA) has said it is not excited about supplying sugar to Tanzania and Kenya because the two countries only turn to Uganda in times of crisis. Both Tanzania and Kenya are facing a sugar crisis resulting from increasing demand amid low supplies. Tanzania, which last year blocked Uganda sugar from accessing its market, early last week announced it would issue sugar permits to exporters of Ugandan sugar to close a surging deficit. Kenya has, since May, been relying on sugar supplies from Uganda due to an ongoing supply crisis. Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, Mr Wilberforce Mubiru, the USMA secretariat manager, said the Ugandan sugar sector had no reason to be excited about the anticipated demand because Tanzania and Kenya only turn to Ugandan when they are having supply deficits. “Tanzania is not getting any sugar from Uganda [at the moment], the information we have, is that and Tanzania said they will inform us when they have a deficit,” he said, adding that even if it allowed the sugar supplies to be exported it would only be limited quantity. Tanzania, he said, has agreements to trade with other countries, especially those in the Comesa and SADCA region. Early, this week, Business Daily reported that Kenya and Tanzania would have to compete for Ugandan duty-free sugar due to an increasing supply shortage in the two countries. Mr Mubiru said, Uganda had enough sugar to close the demand gaps in the country if they are given an opportunity....

Uganda’s oil and gas industry is expected to rake in investments worth over US$ 1 billion this year,according to senior energy ministry officials. The outlay for this year is part of the close to US$20bn that the government expects over the next three years as the joint venture oil company partners step up activities to commercialize Uganda’s petroleum resources which were discov¬ered over a decade ago. The development of the upstream proj¬ects are being taken forward by the three joint venture partners, CNOOC Uganda Ltd, Total E&P Uganda and Tullow Uganda Operations Pty Ltd. Eng. Irene Muloni, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development said recently that the government expects a pick-up in activity in the sector this year following a calm 2018 that involved designs of key production infrastruc¬ture such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline and the two central processing facilities. She said the government has also revised its timelines for first oil by 24 months to 2022 following a series of missed deadlines. According to the government’s original road map, first oil was scheduled for 2020 but the joint venture oil companies failed to submit their final investment decisions in time. Muloni said the gov¬ernment had expected the key decisions to be made latest end of 2017 or in the first quarter of 2018. “Unfortunately, it has not happened and 2018 has come to an end,” Muloni said, “That means Uganda’s first oil shifts.” At the time the government announced the 2020 first oil timeline; many...

Over the past three decades regional integration schemes have mushroomed across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Regional integration promotes global advantage for businesses of the regional bloc members by creating common markets which open up borders and eliminate import/export tariffs. This increases the bloc’s global competiveness by marshalling the individual States’ potentials and presents their case in unison. African countries have been working towards integrating at continental level as well as sub-regions. The quest for the East African region to integrate has seen coming together of six states: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda which arguably is a good move. The East African Community (EAC) integration is anchored on four pillars: Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political Federation with significant strides already made on the former three. Imperatively, the Political Federation pillar whereby the region envisages a Superstate with a single government makes EAC integration unique. Successful integration needs a ‘forward-looking’ strategy. The European Union is lauded to be the most successful integration scheme and from which lessons are drawn but the on-going Brexit negotiations have apparently cast a shadow on it. The EU has also been through a number of crises that threatened to tear down the Union. These included: the Eurozone Crisis (2009), the Ukrainian Crisis (2014), and the European Migration Crisis (2015). However, the EU has weathered these storms and forged forward albeit at a slower pace. This can be attributed to the firm political will from EU member States and the...

Johannesburg, Jan 11 (Forbes): One of Africa’s long reigning leaders and President to East African country Rwanda says Africa should start engaging in continental trade and maximising export to the world to reduce African dependency on foreign funding. In a recent interview with Forbes Africa Kagame emphasised the importance of localising production and maximising export to the rest of the world, saying that will encourage African economies to be self dependent  and increasing players in the global economy made in the continent. Paul Kagame is the current Chairman of the African Union preceding the role from former Chad Prime Minister and Diplomat, Moussa Faki Mahamat. Kagame assumed his role in the AU from Jan 2018 and has been championing African Economic Development since. The Rwandan president is best known for his diversity in parliament by having a majority parliamentary cabinet represented by women. His made in Rwanda strategy qualified him as African of the year at the 2018 All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) which is an annual event that honors business excellence and leaders who have played a significant role in the business industry and communities. Kagame has spent the previous year improving economic climate and conditions in his home country Rwanda. His most important highlights include securing a contract with Alibaba and improving the ease of doing business in Rwanda which was attested by the world bank. Whilst overcoming the milestones of a painful past that has Rwanda stills in scars, where more than 1 million people lost...

You won’t have missed the nationalist mood engulfing big economies around the world: the US, Britain, Brazil, France and Germany are all stained by proto-fascists in and around power. Politicians in these countries talk of taking back control of borders; they are keen to identify those who should and should not receive state support.   But the politicians of Africa are headed in a different direction. Far from erecting walls, they want to build “the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organisation”, according to Sierra Leone’s trade minister Peter Bayuku Konte. The African Continental Free Trade Area, sporting the catchy acronym AfCFTA is an African market that is 1.2 billion people strong and has a gross domestic product of $2.5trn. Sierra Leone signed up to become a member on 7 November. It is a bold step by the continent’s leaders. A “new chapter in African unity”, according to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, the energetic chair of the African Union (AU). He has been remarkably successful in whipping into line so many peers. Experts agree. “This level of diplomatic and political support for regional integration and trade has not been seen in Africa for a long time,” says Trudi Hartzenberg, executive director of the Trade Law Centre, which is based in South Africa. The economics certainly appear to stack up. Tiny fragmented African markets cannot hope to compete for global capital. And Africa’s most successful regional economic bloc, the East African Community, has been attracting great...

However, infrastructure deficit may hinder the progress of building AfCFTA Chinese entrepreneur He Liehui boarded a flight to Ghana and visited Africa for the first time 18 years ago. Now his businesses have landed on more than 20 African countries, after knocking on the door of each market one by one "The process was extremely difficult, due to a lack of understanding of the culture and laws of different African countries," said He, founder and president of the Touchroad International Holdings Group, a multinational business engaging in international trade, cultural exchanges, tourism, and special economic zone construction in Africa. To cite a few examples. His T-shirt business failed in Ghana, he lost large amounts of money when he first entered Nigeria, and he also had other experiences, like escaping from an arsenal explosion and stray bullets. African countries all have different rules and regulations, and each market has its unique features. The experience of doing business in one country could hardly be copied in another, said Tang Xiaoyang, a researcher on Africa studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing. "Having many scattered markets has long been an important factor that makes it difficult for traders and investors to expand their business on the African continent, and hinders the economic development of Africa," he said. However, the grand plan of building the African Continental Free Trade Area will definitely bring great economic momentum to the continent when it is completed. The AfCFTA was first signed in March of 2018 by 44 countries...

Last year was a dynamic year for Africa in both positive and challenging ways. The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) was effected; Nigeria showed signs of moving out of recession with risks of going back, South Africa dipped into recession and the growing debt burden of African governments was brought into focus. In terms of economic diplomacy, 2018 saw China announce a $60 billion package for Africa during Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the US passed the Build Act which saw the creation of the International Development Finance Corporation, an agency that can invest up to $60 billion in the developing world; further the Trump Administration announced new strategy for Africa. The European Union proposed a new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs involving a 25 per cent increase in the EU Africa budget for 2021-27 to about €40 billion. Given all these factors, what are the key focus points for Africa in 2019? Firstly, the indebtedness of African governments will be watched. The pace at which African governments are accruing debt is causing concern. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) points out that Sub-Saharan Africa public debt was at 57 per cent of its GDP in 2017, an increase of 20 percentage points in just five years. In other words, Africa as whole, owes more than half the value of its gross domestic product (GDP). In October the IMF raised Kenya’s risk of defaulting on debt repayments from low to moderate, forecasting the country’s total public debt will...

Rwandan official shave said that farmers and exporters will greatly benefit from the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), an Alibaba e-commerce platform – the first of its kind in Africa, launched last year in Rwanda. The remarks were made during a 4 day workshop concluded on Friday in Hangzhou China where Rwandan officials were trained on the transformative impact and promise of a new data-driven digital economy and how to drive economic growth by accelerating implementation of digital solutions like e-commerce, e-finance, big data industries and other digital solutions. The eWTP aims at opening doors for small businesses in Africa to take part in cross-border electronic trade. During the workshop, twelve participants from Rwanda met with Alibaba executives for the training that aimed at equipping them with knowledge to continue supporting the development of Rwanda’s digital economy. Participants included the Ambassador of Rwanda to China Charles Kayonga, the CEO of National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) Ambassador George William Kayonga and representatives from the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Higher Education Council (HEC), Rwanda Utility Regulatory Authority (RURA), Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB). The CEO of NAEB Amb. George William Kayonga who was leading the delegation from Kigali also said that Rwandan farmers and exporters will benefit from eWTP as they will be able to directly export value added products to China, a country with a market of 1.4 billion people. Charles Kayonga, Rwanda’s...