IN SUMMARY Across the region, political parties are facing a torrid time, with little financing, restrictive laws on mobilising funds, especially from external sources, and dominant ruling parties that feed off the state — a situation that makes for a generally weak political party foundation. While incumbent parties look strong, are flush with cash and have countrywide networks, experts warn that that strength is hinged on their stay in power — were they to turn into an opposition party, their existence would not be guaranteed. Complaints of an uneven political playing field persist and while the EAC partner states have made attempts to provide statutory financing, critics say the funding is too little or skewed and at best cosmetic. If the functioning and welfare of political parties were a measure of a country’s democracy, how would the East African region fare? Currently, multipartyism is more or less taken as the universal standard of democracy, of course when accompanied by regular elections. Though most of Africa has adopted this standard with some nudging from the West, pockets of resistance remain on whether parties and elections equal democracy. The funding systems set up by governments in the region and freedom for the parties to mobilise their resources is a safe good measure to test the region’s commitment to functional political parties and democracy. The scorecard for East Africa turns out to be mixed. Across the region, political parties are facing a torrid time, with little financing, restrictive laws on mobilising funds, especially...

On June 13, two weeks before the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the African Union announced a new “single African passport.” The lead-up discussion was much like the original debate on the European Economic Community, the E.U.’s predecessor. African passport proponents say it will boost the continent’s socioeconomic development because it will reduce trade barriers and allow people, ideas, goods, services and capital to flow more freely across borders. But now the A.U. faces the challenge of making sure the “e-Passport” lives up to its potential – and doesn’t fulfill detractors’ fears of heightened terrorism, smuggling and illegal immigration. The African e-Passport is part of a long-term plan for the continent The e-Passport is an electronic document that permits any A.U. passport holder to enter any of the 54 A.U. member states, without requiring a visa. It will be unveiled this month during the next A.U. Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Initially, the e-Passport will only be available to A.U. heads of state, foreign ministers and permanent representatives based in the A.U.’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, . The plan is to roll it out to all A.U. citizens by 2018. The electronic passport initiative grows out of the A.U.’s Agenda 2063, a plan to mobilize Africa’s vast resources to strengthen the region’s self-reliance, global economic power and solidarity. Why is the single African passport important? The e-Passport is a step toward eliminating borders on the continent, aiming to enable deeper integration, increased trade and further development. Just as important, the passport is a powerful symbol of unity across...

3.4 of what? With the summer holiday travel season upon those in the northern hemisphere, this month’s Indicator is 3.4 or 3.4%, the percentage of foreign tourists compared to residents visiting in the East African Community (EAC) countries.   How does this compare to other regions of the world?  There were approximately 1.13 billion people visiting international destinations as tourists in the most recent year studied, with approximately 5.4 million of them visiting EAC countries, and 65.3 million visiting African countries overall. The highest density of foreign overnight visitors per country occurs in European micronations and Caribbean Islands including Andorra (3247%), Turks and Caicos (1061%), Aruba (1036%), and Monaco (874%). Beyond these categories of countries, Bahrain, Malta, Iceland, and Austria seem to attract a high number of visitors with 767%, 395%, 305%, and 296% respectively. The African nation of Seychelles takes in 233 thousand visitors annually from a population of 91 thousand or a ratio of 255% followed by Mauritius with 82% foreign visitors and Lesotho with 51%. So which countries in EAC have the most and which the least tourists visiting? Despite having numerous game parks and tourist infrastructure Kenya (1.4 million), Tanzania (1.3 million) have only a smalllead on foreign visitors per year than Uganda (1.3 million) or Rwanda (1.2 million) both of which have the highest tourist to resident ratio of the EAC at 9.6%. How does tourism benefit EAC countries? The most recent total expenditure of tourists visiting the EAC was 4.2 billion USD, or about $779...

By Ashery Mkama Trademark East Africa (TMA) has provided 3.0m US dollars to the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to strengthen standardisation and conformity assessment in Tanzania. The funds whose agreement was signed in Dar es Salaam yesterday extends TMA's support to TBS with the aim of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the firm in the development and implementation of standards in Tanzania. "This is an opportunity for Tanzania to catch up with other East African Community (EAC) Partner States for TMA support on standardisation and conformity assessment which we missed in the previous round, said TMA Tanzania Country Director, Dr Josephat Kweka. "This means that the results achieved in other countries can be replicated in Tanzania," he said. Dr Kweka was speaking in Dar es Salaam after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) Director General, Mr Joseph Masikitiko. Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Prof Adolf Mkenda, was the guest of honour. This new agreements is an extension of support that TMA has provided to TBS specifically procuring and delivering two categories of testing equipment which included mini-laboratory equipments and glassware, he said. On his part, Mr Masikitiko said TBS still faced challenges such as limited service delivery mechanism, low awareness to stakeholders in participation to standardisation and quality assurance activities, inadequate updates and adoption of standards as well as absence of service value proposition, among others. Over the years TBS has worked to address most of the...

By Wachira Maina Now that the immediate turmoil of Britain's exit vote from the European Union has somewhat subsided, it is a good time to ask what lessons that vote holds for the East African Community. Four stand out. One, a community must be based on values shared by all. Two, a community won't endure if it is not built on the consent of the people. Three, integration is fragile and it takes but the opportunism of a few leaders in a member state to wreck it. Four, the youth must be given voice in integration; if not, the future -- complete with its uncertainties and challenges -- will be shaped by those with the least stake in it, the old. The first, second and fourth are lessons for the Community as a whole and the third, though a lesson for all, is particularly important for Kenya, which has ruined the EAC once before. Let's flesh out each one of these lessons. For the most part, the United Kingdom has never been one with core EU values. Rather, the UK prides itself in its exceptionalism and pursues a foreign policy that is defined more by what the country is against rather than what it stands for. Little wonder then that Anglo-European relations have often been characterised by mutual antipathy. Britain, in the words of its former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, is "insular" with "very special, very original, habits and traditions." That insularity contrasts sharply with Europe's self-conscious cosmopolitanism. And so,...

32,272,059,785 of what? This month’s Indicator of 32,272,059,785 (32.2 billion) is the total market capitalization, the amount of US dollars in all the stock exchanges, in the East African Community at the time of writing.  What do you mean by market capitalization? Market capitalization is the aggregate valuation of the company based on its current share price and the total number of outstanding stocks. Basically, it is the total value of the companies listed on an exchange. In our case $32.2 billion USD is the total value of all the companies in all the stock exchanges listed in East Africa. How does this compare to other stock exchanges around the world? The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest in the world at over $18.2 trillion USD in market capitalization, over 500 times larger than the total value of all the exchanges in East Africa. The NYSE is followed by the NASDAQ at over $6.8 trillion USD and the London Stock Exchange at $6.2 trillion USD.  A bit closer to home is the Johannesburg Stock Exchange which has $951 billion in market capitalization, nearly 30 times as large as the EAC exchanges. So which countries in EAC have the most and the least investment in their stock exchanges? Kenya is the largest economy in the region so it is no surprise that the NSE of Kenya has the largest market capitalization equivalent to $18.8 billion at the time of writing, followed by Tanzania at $9.8 billion, Rwanda just under...

0.0456 of what? 0.0456 or approximately 4.6 USD cents ($0.0456) is the average cost of one minute of talk time on a mobile phone in the East Africa Community (EAC). So which countries in EAC have the highest and and which the lowest rates? Despite several advertisements and promotions seen throughout the region, most major providers in EAC countries are offering very similar rates.  At the time of writing we found the highest rates in Burundi ($0.06 USD) and some of the lowest rates with Tigo in Rwanda ($0.01 USD) and Airtel in Uganda ($0.02 USD).Other providers were much closer to the average cost per minute.  As telecom costs in the EAC are one of the most dynamic pricing markets in the world, the amounts reflected here are highly subject to change.  How does this compare to other regions of the world? Calling costs in the EAC are quite reasonable compared to other parts of the world, though rates can vary dramatically. Countries with challenging environments such as the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu with heavy satellite infrastructure needed to connect people disbursed across islands see costs upwards of $0.60 US per minute.  In more developed European countries telecom and taxation policies drive cost variations from $0.02 USD in Denmark or Norway up to $0.53 USD per minute in the Netherlands.  Strong consumer-friendly telecom policies and technological prioritization has brought the cost down to below $0.01 USD per minute in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, the world’s cheapest place...

The East African Business Council (EABC) has underscored the importance for the East African Community (EAC) partner states to fast track the signing of a new trade regime with the European Union (EU). Though EAC partner states have proposed the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signing ceremony to be in the first week of the August, this year, the EABC recommends18th July, 2016 to take advantage of the EU Commissioner for Trade who will be in Nairobi attending UNCTAD XIV Conference. The EABC expectations are that ministers for trade from all EAC member states will also attend the UNCTAD Conference and therefore could be able to sign the EAC-EU-EPA on the same date in order to project the region as a functional Customs Union. The EABC Chief Executive Officer, Ms Lilian Awinja, says further delay in signing the pact will hamper exports from EAC partner states to the EU market. "Failure to meet EU deadline on ratification will force EAC exports to EU attract import duty especially for Kenya which is considered as developing country while other four countries Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi which are considered Least Developed Countries (LDCs) may force to opt for Everything But Army (EBA) trade arrangement which has more complicated rules of origin," Ms Awinja explains. According to EABC boss, the July 18th signing will give EAC Partner States ample time to ratify the Agreement, before 1st October, 2016 the deadline set unilaterally by EU. To make the matter worse, come 1st January 2017 Kenya...

A study shows that agricultural fertiliser can land at the Kenyan Port of Mombasa at $350/t, and then sell for 300% to 400% more 1 000 km inland, says Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa CEO Argent Chuula. “The same is true for Tanzania. The fertiliser will arrive in Dar es Salaam at $350/t, then sell in southern Tanzania for $800/t. “Around 30% of these cost increases are taxes, but the bulk comes from transport costs.” Chuula adds that African farmers typically receive only 20% to 25% of the final market price of their goods, compared with the 70% to 85% Asian farmers receive. “Most of the difference comes from transport costs.” Yet another figure quoted by Chuula is that transport charges in Ghana and Zimbabwe are 2 to 2.5 times more expensive than in Pakistan or Sri Lanka. He notes that the transport costs added to the price of goods in Africa, lead to an increase in costs to the consumer, who is forced to act “as the price taker”. Chuula says infrastructure deficiencies are to a large degree to blame for the high transport costs on the continent. “The current infrastructure situation [in Africa] is inadequate to deal with cargo and people movement.” INCREASED AFRICAN TRADE Infrastructure deficiencies have also seen steep costs in cross-border trade. “Intra-African trade costs are 50% higher than costs in East Asia. Africa has the highest intra-regional costs of any developing region,”...

Britain exiting the European Union is being viewed as a wake-up call for the East African Community (EAC) member states to critically look at the integration process, a top government official said on Wednesday. Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda’s minister of state for international affairs stated that the happenings in Britain showed that the ordinary British people did not see the value of the EU to their ordinary lives, a similar incident that can occur to the EAC. The EAC, a regional trading bloc that brings together Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan espouses the EU integration model in its efforts to fast track economic development. The bloc already has a Customs Union, Common Market and is now working on a Monetary Union. Its ultimate goal is to have a political federation, a similar quest by the EU. Oryem said the integration process should not be left to the elites but also include the ordinary citizens of each member country who should play a critical role. He argued that until the ordinary citizens appreciate the value of the integration process, it would be a fallacy to integrate the bloc. “They really have to understand it, believe in it and embrace it in order for us to move forward because if they don’t, then the consequences would be similar to what is in Britain if a referendum is called,” Oryem said. He added, “With in the EAC, we need to go back on the ground and on the drawing board...