The Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) has released an infographic that explores infrastructure resilience and access to energy in sub-Saharan East Africa (SSA). Africa has massive infrastructure needs yet invests only 4% of its GDP in infrastructure, in contrast to the 14% spent by China. A projected $100 billion will be required to meet Africa's infrastructure needs over the next decade. The share of citizens in Africa with access to services varies considerably. 63% of Africans have access to piped water and only 30% have access to sewerage. In contrast, over 90% have mobile phone service. Modern energy services are essential to human well-being and economic development; 95% of those living without electricity are in SSA and developing Asia. In Kenya, only 23% of people have access to electricity compared to the global average of 85%. If current trends continue, it will take Africa until 2080 to achieve universal access to electricity. There is significant potential for renewable energy development in Africa. Renewable energy consumption in Kenya is in excess of 78%, far surpassing the global average of just 18%. Hear more about infrastructure resilience and energy from international and regional experts, including Dr Stephen Mogere, Infrastructure Advisor at JICA, Dr Sharad Sapra, Director of Global Innovation Centre, UNICEF and Christopher M. Hoffman, Regional Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Director at World Vision. The agenda features panel discussions on supporting resilient livelihoods and strengthening rural infrastructure in SSA as well as mobile innovations to support community resilience the region. Source:...

Officials in Kenya remain tight-lipped over the fate of millions of shillings collected from sale of the region’s single visa even as the second year of trial comes to a close. The National Treasury, citing stringent fiscal rules, has been holding the cash collected on behalf of Uganda and Rwanda since the three states started piloting a common tourist visa in February 2014. Both Treasury secretary Henry Rotich and PS Kamau Thugge declined to respond to our queries even as official statistics show shift to national border passes as the standoff persists. The regional visa has netted only Sh40 million in two years. Kenya is a gateway to the region. It receives hundreds of region-bound tourists by cruise ships and chartered planes is a top collection point. Under the Kenya’s Constitution, however, tourist visa collection is regarded as any other public revenue which has to be surrendered to the Consolidated Fund. The money in the Consolidated Fund can only be spent or shared out according to an appropriation Bill approved by Parliament. “Kenya has not been able to remit any of the money collected in the last two years from issuance of the regional visa because we don’t have a legal framework to do so,” said Mr Alfred Kitolo, director of productive services at Kenya’s East African Community (EAC) ministry. “We are not suggesting that any money collected on behalf of Rwanda and Uganda has been lost. Kenya will release all the cash once it gets around the legal hurdle.”...

The East African Community (EAC) is behind schedule as regards establishment of the East African Monetary Institute, a key body meant to carry out preparatory work for the East African Monetary Union (EAMU), officials have said. When regional leaders approved the EAMU Protocol, in 2013, it provided for gradual establishment of four institutions, including the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI), a transitional institution responsible for laying the foundation for the EAMU. “We are already lagging behind. It was supposed to be in place by 2015,” said Peter Njoroge, deputy director for economic affairs in Kenya’s Ministry of EAC Affairs. Establishing the EAMI; initiating the pertinent legal instruments, identifying the host partner state, signing host country agreements and operationalising the institute were activities for 2015. “However, even the legal framework for establishing these institutions has to be negotiated. We have to go through the normal process of negotiating how it is to be structured, and, you know, issues of negotiations take some time,” Njoroge added. “That partly explains why we took longer and why we are yet to have the institution in place”. By 2018, three other institutions: the East African Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission; the East African Statistics Bureau; and the East African Financial Services Commission, are supposed to be in place, according to the EAMU road map. Other activities to be concluded by 2018 include coordination and harmonization of fiscal policies, as well as coordination and harmonization of the monetary and exchange rate policies during the transition to the Monetary...

AS the government embarks on establishment and revival of industries in the country, at least 15 companies have shown interest to establish industries in Morogoro Region, the Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Dr John Ndunguru has said. The companies expressed their interests soon after the completion of the investment forum that took place in the region in September, this year. Speaking during the launching of training on the application of technology on tailoring, Dr Ndunguru said his office expects to receive more applications and commitment from other companies. The function was graced by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Labour, Youth and Employment, Mr Anthony Mavunde. At least 200 youth out of 1,000 who have been registered for the training attended the launching at Mazava Fabrics and Production Ltd grounds in Morogoro. He said some of the companies are interested to invest in sugar factories, construction of modern abattoirs and meat processing, fruits processing and other areas. “Morogoro has been a home of industries since the first phase government, we are happy that the fifth phase government is reviving industries across the country and there all signs that Morogoro is going to record good performance,” he said. He said with the current spirit and government commitment, Tanzania is soon becoming an industrial country. He said the government is committed to cooperate with private companies under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework in developing and strengthening industrial sector in the country. According to the RAS the establishment and revival...

Cargo vessels berthed at the Port of Mombasa, February 5 2016. FILE PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP.  The government will allocate a further Sh10 billion for construction of the first three berths at Lamu port in the next financial year, Transport Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera has said. When the project started in the 2016/1017 financial year, it was also allocated Sh10 billion. Mr Nyakera said the works were progressing well slightly ahead of schedule at 12.5 per cent against a projected 12 per cent since construction kicked off with offices for the headquarters already complete. “Construction of the three berths will be completed in late 2018 ready to receive the first vessel in 2019. Our objective in building the berths is to open the project to private investors. "Initially, some people raised concerns over the viability of this project but as you can see it is progressing well,” he said. Cargo evacuation Mr Nyakera said to ensure proper evacuation of cargo from the port, the government was fast-tracking construction of the 115-kilometre Lamu-Witu-Garsen and Lamu-Garisa-Isiolo roads whose contracts had been awarded. He spoke on Friday at the Lamu port headquarters after a joint meeting between the Lapsset Authority and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) boards held their first joint parley and took a tour of the project to assess its progress. Currently, a contractor is dredging the harbour to a depth of 18 metres and reclaiming part of the ocean where the container stacking yard will be located....

By Mary Sanyiwa Mtwara — Regional authorities are upbeat over the prospects of increased business and revenue after 1,115 trucks imported by Nigerian business mogul Aliko Dangote docked at the Mtwara Port at the weekend. "This is a good beginning as we open up economic opportunities for the region," said Acting Regional Commissioner Khatibu Kazungu who witnessed the docking of the ships carrying the trucks. The trucks are destined for the Dangote Cement factory. They add to the Nigerian businessman's current fleet of trucks transporting cement from Mtwara to various parts of the country. Mtwara Port general manager Stella Katondo said later this month another vessel carrying 500 vehicles for the same cement plant is expected at the facility.  The acting RC, who doubles as the Mtwara District Commissioner, said the docking of the ship had proven to the world that the Port has the capacity to handle large volumes of cargo. According to him, the Port could now be used by the neighbouring countries of Malawi, Mozambique, DRC Congo and Zambia. He appealed to stakeholders to take advantage of the Port and not to rely solely on the Dar es Salaam Port. Diamond Shipping agency manager John Lemomo said one of the vessels that carried the trucks, Morning Composer, is 200-metre long ship with capacity to carry 60,000 metric tonnes of cargo and ferry 6,500 vehicles. "We would like to express our warm thanks to both the Dar es Salaam Port and Dangote company as we witness this huge...

East African Community experts have concluded consultative missions in Vietnam and Japan, a benchmarking exercise aimed at borrowing a leaf on how the Asian nations developed their automotive industries. According to Jean-Baptiste Havugimana, the East African Community (EAC) director for productive sectors, experts from partner states and the Secretariat travelled to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda “to compile baseline information on the status of automotive industry,” and to Vietnam and Japan for a benchmarking exercise. “These missions took place from September 20 to October 7. Thereafter, the team will visit other countries in East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda) for in-depth analysis, and to others in Africa such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa for benchmarking,” Havugimana told The New Times at the weekend. In October, a three-day meeting of a broad spectrum of stakeholders and experts from the automotive industry, finance, customs and trade sectors as well as vehicle manufacturers from EAC was held in Nairobi, Kenya. It was aimed at reviewing and validating progress report on the comprehensive study on automotive industry. The stakeholders would then provide inputs toward its finalisation and inform the EAC and potential investors on policy options and modalities to promote and develop the motor vehicle industry. The initial benchmarking study missions revealed that usage of local content was one of the drivers for the growth of the automotive sector. “This is an area that EAC needs to explore further and adopt appropriate measures that will consequently spur the development of the sector,” reads part of an...

It may be time to stop reminding your American friends that Africa is not a country – tell them it’s a series of regions.  According to a new report by the World Bank, The Unexplored Potential of Trade in Services in Africa, the key to boosting tourism on the continent could be to actively brand travel to regions within sub-Saharan Africa – encouraging visitors to east, west, southern Africa – rather than just individual countries. The report uses the examples of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, regions that are almost synonymous with some of the countries within them: Jamaica is the Caribbean as much as it is the birthplace of Bob Marley; backpackers the world over slip into flip-flops and head to Southeast Asia, not just Thailand. Southeast Asia has been doing this since the ’90s, through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In the Caribbean, “The notion is that by pooling resources, the [Caribbean Trade Organisation] could increase the competitiveness of the world’s premier sea, sand, and sun destination,” the report explains. The concept isn’t of course new to Africa, with prominent – if not tourism-focussed – regional blocs such as SADC (the Southern African Development Community) and EAC (East African Community). Both have policies in place that do allow the people in their respective member countries to travel more freely between them. The EAC is now consciously trying to brand the region, or “market and promote East Africa as a single tourist destination,” says the report, as well as focussing on standardising...

Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed has faulted county governments for charging multiple taxes in their jurisdictions. He said yesterday the trend had led to slowed business activities in the devolved units. Whereas counties charge cess taxes to complement allocations from the National Treasury, said the CS, care has to be taken to ensure that their actions do not make Kenyan goods non-competitive. “We have no business charging tax to a business person when their vehicle steps into another county. Otherwise, these counties may as well declare independence,” said Mr Mohamed. He spoke in Nairobi during the launch of a report dubbed “The burden of produce cess and other market charges in Kenya” by Kenya Markets Trust (KMT). The CS further noted that multiple cess collection points in counties had led to high cost of living. According to the report findings presented by Policy and Research Manager at KMT Chris Shimba, produce cess, is not being used by counties to improve production and distribution of the taxed commodities. “Cess charged across counties was not necessarily ploughed back to the sector. Instead, it ended up making cost of food prohibitive and out of reach for most households,” said Mr Shimba. The study also found that many counties do not accept permits issued by other counties for moving agricultural produce such as maize, milk, livestock, vegetables and fish. Instead, traders are taxed for entering each county. Speakers at the launch said as much as cess was a noble ideas for...

The Federal Republic of Germany and the East African Community (EAC) have signed an agreement of 7 million euros, which support will go towards disaster preparedness and ICT projects in the region. The agreement was signed on Tuesday (December 6) by EAC Secretary-General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko on behalf of the Community and the Germany Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania who is also accredited to EAC, Egon Kochanke on behalf of his country. A statement issued by the EAC Secretariat today said 3 million euros in technical assistance will be invested in strengthening the pandemic preparedness of the region. The project will support the operationalization of the EAC Regional Contingency Plan and a regional risk and crisis communication strategy, it said. Four million euros in technical assistance will be invested in an Academic Center for Digital Innovation, the statement said. The project will support the set-up of a State of the Art Master programme focusing on embedded and mobile systems at an East African University, supporting the development of a skilled labor force in East Africa. The projects will be implemented by the German International Cooperation Agency, GIZ. Speaking during the signing ceremony, the EAC Secretary General, Mfumukeko thanked the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for its support to the EAC. ‘’We have truly benefited from the German support which has catalysed other development Partners to support our projects and programmes,” he said. Kochanke said: “Our support underlines that Germany wishes to further strengthen the long-standing and...