It started off in December as an unexpected question from a stranger. I had just made a brief stopover at Nyamasaria in the outskirts of Kisumu town when a man waylaid me. “Where do you offload next? Well, being a rural area, ignoring people just because they don’t look familiar is out of question. So the man’s intrusive question became a natural talking point the moment I crossed into a makeshift eatery in the area. And true to village wisdom, I was in a school of sorts, listening to strange tales and gathering story leads. First, the man had a perfect sense of what he was talking about, only that he had mistaken me for a truck driver after I parked at the wrong place. Two, he could be hinting that some truck drivers offload untaxed imports at undesignated places from where ‘trusted agents” collected them. Because nearly every speaker seemed to have just a fleeting sense of the subject matter, I would still have brushed them off as heresies had it been for news heard previously. There were reports early last year that cars bearing Uganda registration numbers were being seized in western Kenya by police and customs officials. The agencies never quite made public what they gathered during the crackdown launched early last year. However, if cars in question were imports, as local dealers thought, then somebody apparently diverted them in the fashion suggested by the stranger in Kisumu. Claims of sugar, rice or cement destined for landlocked...

Dar es Salaam. The World Bank Group says it will support Tanzania’s industrialisation by focusing on deepening the EAC Common Market which is crucial in expanding the market for the manufactured goods. Steven Dimitriyev, World Bank Lead Private Sector Specialist for Tanzania said last week that if well utilised the East African Common Market can serve as a crucial market for the country’s industrial goods and services but restrictions remain that make trade in the region more difficult. And that is why the WB and other partners such as TradeMark Africa are ready to help Tanzania and other EAC partner states to work on all those issues that still hinder the full implementation of the Common Market protocol. “Our reasoning is that industrialising the Tanzanian economy will be achievable only if the EAC market becomes easily accessible for Tanzanian goods, services and labour which can be exported and traded across the region, on account of the large size of the market and the opportunities it presents for trade and business development,” Mr Dimitriyev, who was reacting to the Common Market Scorecard 2016 that indicated that EAC partner states still lag behind in some key aspects of integration, said last Wednesday. He added that the WB, therefore, intends to support EAC trade integration by including it in its package of assistance to Tanzania’s second Five Year Development Programme, which prioritizes industrialization as the approach to creating large number of new and better jobs for the population, especially the youth. The EA...

Tourism between East Africa and the granted Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as Category One status is expected to herald the new beginning of direct flights to America from Nairobi, with a new chapter of growth in regional tourism. After Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) won Category One status from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month, there are new hopes heralding East African tourism, looking for faster growth through the Kenyan entry point. By attaining the highest International Aviation Safety Assessment status, Kenya is now standing as East Africa’s aviation hub for American tourists booked to the East African Community (EAC) member states most of whom are lacking key tourist services. Kenya’s Transport Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia, was quoted by The EastAfrican as saying that Kenya Airways and other interested local operators will fly directly from Kenya to the United States once the necessary approvals and last point of departure (LPD) rights are granted. Mr. Macharia said that with the attainment of Category One status, Kenya Airways will immediately apply for approval to codeshare with US airlines while concurrently pursuing approval for direct flights. RwandAir, the other major airline in the EAC says going through Kenya is also an opportunity the airline can explore. Jimmy Musoni, the Head of Commercial Planning at RwandAir, noted, however, that they were yet to undertake a study to weigh their options. Direct flights to the US will significantly reduce the time taken between the US and East Africa to as little...

At Friday’s opening of Bank of Kigali’s service centre on Kigali Heights, I was honoured to meet several eminent gentlemen and a lady that loyally follow this column, the best motivation for any writer; they also gave me some honest feedback regarding my profile picture. “It makes you look like a giant,” said one gentleman. Disclaimer: I am only half a giant. “You actually look older in the picture,” said another gentleman. I am actually 360 months old, a long time if you are polite enough not to convert it into years. Another gentleman teased me about the green jacket and the striped shirt. The banter left me in such a great mood that I could have written a wonderful romance essay that night. To be fair, the feedback on Friday about my profile picture is consistent with what others have told me before. Pictures are lovely. They are a form of writing and a good way of advancing viewpoints. In media framing, pictures are the best tools of composition and currently, the best case study is the media’s pictorial representation of the cantankerous US President Donald Trump. Based on the feedback, I will be changing my profile picture, soon. But it is not only me with a picture to fix; East Africa’s picture of regional integration is increasingly becoming blurry as members place more focus on their respective national priorities. Originally, the picture we drew from East Africa’s rhetoric on regional integration was that member countries were harmonizing their...

Burundi’s attempt to join the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is not necessarily a blow to the East African Community but it is a reminder of the tensions that remain in the regional grouping, especially over politics and governance arrangements. On the face of it, there is nothing exceptional about Burundi’s application to SADC; Tanzania, a key founding member of the EAC is also a member of the southern bloc, as is its neighbour to the west, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Beneath the surface, however, Burundi’s move represents a hedging of geopolitical bets by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government against what it sees as hostility from some EAC members, in particular Rwanda. Relations between the two countries have been sour since Bujumbura accused Kigali of supporting some of the groups that emerged to oppose President Nkurunziza after he stood for a third term of office in 2015 in what critics said was a violation of the Arusha Agreements that ended the country’s civil war. Rwanda has denied any involvement in the political instability that has ensued in Burundi but President Paul Kagame has publicly criticised his counterpart’s regime and accused it of massacres. While the public rhetoric between the two countries has since died down, the political tensions continue. Five of Burundi’s representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have promised to boycott the fifth plenary session due next week in Kigali because of the tensions between the two countries. In addition, an EAC mediation process to end the...

Our fascination with Europe and Brexit is perhaps obscuring the two greatest changes and opportunities in global trade. These are happening neither in European nor Anglo-Saxon countries, but in China and Africa Next week Britain will host a Commonwealth Trade meeting in London. This is the time to start resetting the tone of Britain’s engagement with the world, post-Brexit. Pre-Brexit, many businesses from Commonwealth countries used Britain as a front door to Europe. The reasons for this were simple: there is a common language, a common legal system and Britain is inside the trading block. Soon Britain is to leave. What happens next? I did not support Brexit. Indeed I actively campaigned for Remain, however “Brexit means Brexit” and we must make this change work. To make Brexit work, we must now turn our minds to creating opportunities for post-Brexit Britain. Many have said that Britain can now “look outward” again and “re-engage” with the world. While Britain was neither inward-looking nor disengaged from the world, we must focus Britain in a global context, not just a European one. Our fascination with Europe and Brexit is perhaps obscuring the two greatest changes and opportunities in global trade. These are happening neither in European nor Anglo-Saxon countries, but in China and Africa. Firstly, in 2012 President Xi of China announced China’s One Belt, One Road policy, which is a massive multi-trillion dollar infrastructure and trade boosting program linking East Africa, Persia, South Asia and China, with an almost after-thought side route...

In the past, the world was clearly split into developing and developed countries – with the latter boasting the most advanced logistics ecosystems. Today, the emerging markets of Africa are challenging this divide in the fields of transportation and logistics, and in some cases leapfrogging ahead of more mature markets. From a connectivity perspective these developments are giving rise to a new image of the future for Africa – one which is very different from today. Let’s explore three key highlights from a transportation and supply chain perspective and the implications for Africa in 2030. Open skies Owing to current aviation infrastructure in Africa (or the lack thereof), what should be a three-hour journey between Algeria and Cameroon, in fact takes 24 hours, with the flight touching down in Istanbul and Turkey en route. A single air transport market for Africa is key to unlocking the opportunities the continent presents. Today, transporting goods in and out of Africa, as well as within the continent, is prohibitive in terms of both time and cost. The restrictions it places on the movement of people also makes for a highly fragmented continent. A study by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has forecast that if another 12 African economies opened their skies to each other, fares would become 35% cheaper, enabling 5 million more people to take to the skies, creating 155,000 new jobs and adding $1.3 billion to GDP. The benefits have been clearly witnessed in South Africa, where an agreement to...

South Sudan’s government said it will appoint six members of its parliament as representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly in an attempt to fulfil its obligations of becoming a full member of the regional bloc. South Sudan foreign affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Ariik, told Radio Tamazuj that once a membership fee of one million dollars is paid, the representatives will be sent to represent South Sudan at the regional parliament. “South Sudan government is almost becoming a full member in the East African Community and we just need to pay our membership fee. This month, we are expected to choose six members to represent South Sudan to East African parliament,” he said. East African heads of states agreed to admit South Sudan as its sixth member state last November during a summit in Tanzania. However, there have been concerns raised by South Sudanese after the government decided to join the East African Community which includes Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Some claim that South Sudanese will benefit from the exemption of visa payment and educational services in the region, while others who are against the decision say South Sudan has little to offer the region. Source: Radio Tamazuj  

Arusha. The postponed summit of the East African Community (EAC) leaders will be held early next month as the region continues to be divided over the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. The meeting of the heads of state, which was initially scheduled for Dar es Salaam yesterday, will be held in Arusha on April 6 following consultations between EAC secretary-general Liberat Mfumukeko with the leaders of the partner states. “The upcoming 18th summit is scheduled for Arusha on April 6,” affirmed the EAC boss in Nairobi on Friday last week after holding talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. During the 17th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the regional organisation held in Dar es Salaam last September, it was agreed that the EPA stalemate be tabled again during the meeting of the regional presidents early this year. Tanzania, which has spearheaded its rejection against the EAC-AU trade arrangement deal, was given until the following meeting of the EAC heads of state to decide whether to ratify the pact or reasons for the delay. EAC-EU-EPA negotiations started in 2002. It was not until 2007 that the framework agreement on tariff was finalised. The East African countries had committed to liberalise up to 82.6 per cent of imports from the EU by value. But the process was interrupted in July last year, when Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda declined to ratify the deal, preferring further consultations on economic implications. Officials of Customs and Trade Directorate at the EAC secretariat could not be reached to...

The 4th session of the inter-Burundian dialogue under the auspices of the Tanzanian facilitator ended on Sunday 19 February. A session marked by an about-turn, calls especially to the Heads of State of the region for help. The fate of this process remains in their hands. The message or SOS launched by Facilitator Benjamin Mkapa at the end of this stage of the talks reveals his discomfort or the stalemate of this dialogue full of jerks and a sudden turn of events. "There is an imperative need to hold an Extraordinary Summit of the East African Community to expose the obstacles that drag the process," he said after pointing out that this was his point of view. "This is an urgency, I will present this to the mediator and the current President of the East African Community as soon as possible," said the former Tanzanian President before a crowd of Burundian politicians invited to Arusha. It was a part of this Burundian political class represented by Evariste Ndayishimiye, Secretary General of the ruling Cndd-Fdd party along with Edouard Nduwimana, the Ombudsman of the Republic at his side. In the same row, there was the second Deputy President of the National Assembly, Agathon Rwasa and two former Heads of state further on. The place reserved for Senator Pierre Buyoya remained empty. He left the day before the session. Just behind these personalities, there was the duo Evariste Ngayimpenda and Tatien Sibomana of Uprona party not officially recognized by the Burundian Government....