Tanzanian president John Magufuli. PHOTO | AFP  IN SUMMARY That means a country such as Tanzania — which belongs to South African Development Community (SADC) — has to treat EU firms the same way it treats those from its southern Africa neighbours. A cloud of secrecy shrouds proposed free trade pact with Europe even as the region’s presidents gather in Dar es Salaam today to make their final decision. Except for its versions leaked earlier, the details of the final Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) draft that East African negotiators settled for in July has remained a closely guarded secret of a small clique of government officials. Kenya and Rwanda signed the deal in Brussels two weeks ago while Uganda is set to confirm its approval today at the extraordinary summit of East African Community (EAC) heads of state. “The 17th extra-ordinary meeting will be considering the Council of Ministers report on EU-EAC Economic Partnership Agreement,” the EAC secretariat said in a statement. The ministers’ report had recommended collective signing of the EPA to safeguard EU market that accounted for 32 per cent of Kenya’s Sh1.577 trillion exports in 2015 but Tanzania later pulled out of the deal. Today, at the summit chaired by President John Magufuli, President Uhuru Kenyatta will most likely push for Tanzania’s signature after Kenya said its 200 firms and four million jobs are at stake. As the haggling continues, the region’s citizens remain helpless bystanders. A lack of mass participation has relegated public discourse to a...

Some of the Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority employees who were charged with fraud after clearing cargo without payment of custom duty. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP  Corrupt business people are colluding with Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Ports Authority workers to delay processing of cargo documents by jamming computer systems. Investigations by a multi-agency security team established that the revenue authority system is jammed to enable false declarations of goods passing through the port. Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa said the syndicate was in the port’s terminal. “This is a sophisticated outfit that interferes with the system so that when a container’s documents are fed into the system, it reads error. This is not done by a layman but by individuals within. They bring in expensive goods and declare them as small cargo,” he said. When 124 containers were stolen from the port three weeks ago, the revenue agency sacked some workers and introduced stringent measures to safeguard cargo. Besides theft, illicit cargo including hard drugs has passed through the port. However, sources indicate that a syndicate connected to some workers was bent on sabotaging the changes to maintain the status quo Two weeks ago, close to 1,000 trucks were stuck at the port due to slow clearance at the main exit gate 18. This was blamed on workers who tampered with the system to create a crisis. SABOTAGING MANAGING DIRECTOR This was the reason, sources said, why President Uhuru Kenyatta accused the workers of...

L-R; Lord Popat, Kouyate, Jassal, and Karera during the panel discussion. (Photos by Timothy Kisambira) MANY A TIME African governments’ representatives and economic experts have convened to deliberate on the continent’s growth potential, intra-Africa trade has been cited as one of the untapped avenues. At the just-concluded The Global African Investment Summit, it was not any different; delegates highlighted the continent’s low capacity to trade with itself as one of the bottlenecks holding it back from competing with other regions. Government officials, business representatives and economic experts insisted that low levels of trade among African countries had seen Africa become less attractive to multinationals and led to slow development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The current levels of trade within the continent have been placed at between 10 and 12 per cent by the various indexes compared to about 40 per cent in North America and around 60 per cent in western Europe. Participants follow proceedings during the meeting in Kigali. All this at a time when Africa has close to 10 trading blocs that have been set up to facilitate trade. Lord Dolar Popat, the UK prime minister’s trade envoy to Rwanda and Uganda, said the greatest hindrances to trade across Africa  was high cost of transport, energy as well as low skills. Lord Popat said beyond the often cited challenges of transport and logistics, most regions across Africa were lacking in terms of the level of skills required  to trade beyond their borders. Another common hindrance observed...

FINANCING entrepreneurial ventures is one of the key issues to feature prominently in the forthcoming maiden East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya. EABC Executive Director Ms Lilian Awinja said one year after the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, they realised the need for a critical follow up on the actual tangible impacts of initiatives like “Trade Africa” or “Power Africa”, that have come along with large funds to promote entrepreneurship. “This is why we will have two sessions on the opportunities and experiences to access those funds and on the requirements for other ways of financing,” she said. Slated for October 10 to 13 in Nairobi, the crucial conference is organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) in partnership with the East African Community (EAC) respective national investment agencies. On the session, financial Institutions such Kenya’s KCB Bank will elaborate on the key issues relevant for the financing of entrepreneurial enterprises. EABC chief added: “This is not on big funds and programmes only but also a chance to learn about innovative sources like crowd funding, impact investment and other incubator initiatives”. The conference will also focus on Manufacturing, infrastructure, leather and textiles and energy in parallel sessions, Ms Awinja said. The exhibition expects to pull some 300 participants from the infrastructure-, manufacturingand energy sector, from ICT - and leather and textile industries, as well as from financing institutions. “Important policy makers and top representatives of relevant international organisations have committed themselves to participate,” she said. In...

PRESIDENT John Magufuli is today leading East African Community (EAC) Heads of State at an extraordinary meeting to be held at the State House in Dar es Salaam. The meeting will mainly concentrate on Tanzania’s reluctance in signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Tanzania has exclusively maintained that it will not append its signature on the agreement ‘’until the country’s demands that focus on the best interests of the people are met.’’ Addressing a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, said Tanzania would not sign the EPA agreement until crucial amendments are included in the agreement. Among other issues that are delaying the signing of the agreement, Dr Mahiga said Tanzania wants to ensure that the country is currently focusing on the industrial economy as well as sorting out the effects that the country faces after the exit of Britain from the EU. According to him, the EU was pushing for the EAC member states to sign that agreement that was drafted 14 years ago, whereas Kenya and Rwanda have already sealed their signatures on the Agreement. Uganda has expressed its intention to sign that agreement but it is waiting for today’s deliberations. The agreement was expected to be signed by EAC member states as a block in July, this year, but it was pushed until October 1, after requests from the member countries. However, Dr Mahiga said the signing of EPA...

Negatu speaks during the meeting in Kigali. (T. Kisambira) The number of people involved in informal trade is growing, but most in the region don’t have access to proper transport means. This is one of the challenges highlighted during the last day of The Global African Investment Summit that closed on Tuesday in Kigali. It was noted that only one in four households in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region has access to energy, and the majority of them live in rural areas. Experts said in order to overcome these challenges, the region should put in place creative financing mechanisms to boost infrastructure development. “We have had desire to increase the region’s power pool but the provision of power in COMESA, for instance, is very poor. Only one in four people in the region has access to energy and some of the countries tend to use sources like hydro-power, which makes it complicated especially when it comes to drought seasons. There is no unified grid access and many rural areas simply have no electricity at all,” said Edward George, head research at Ecobank. On the other hand, he said, “when you look at the existing corridors in the region, you can tell that they could unlock the potential in the near future.” “The long corridors like those running down the Nile valley along the East African coast, the Maputo development corridor, the proposed Khartoum-Morocco (corridor) across the Mediterranean sea, all could integrate the region,” he added....

Kenya has inaugurated the first part of a new container terminal at the coastal town of Mombasa. The terminal which was opened over the weekend, is expected to boost cargo volumes handled by East Africa’s largest port by 50%. It can handle 550,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year and will ramp up Mombasa’s existing annual cargo handling capacity from the current 1.05 million TEUs to 1.6 million TEUs. “In five years’ time, we expect to have hit 2.5 million TEUs after completing the second phase,” Kenya’s finance minister, Henry Rotich, said during the ceremony. A bigger cargo capacity for Mombasa is crucial because of the recent discovery of oil and gas in the region. Mombasa port is the gateway to east Africa and funnels imports of fuel and consumer goods as well as exports of commodities like tea from land locked Kenyan neighbours ,Uganda and Rwanda. Construction of the the $ 296.74 million terminal began in March 2012 and was completed in February this year. It has been financed by a loan from Japan’s development agency Japan International Cooperation agency (JICA) and Kenya will repay the loan over a period of 40 years. Rotich added that the government has signed an agreement with JICA for credit worth 32 billion shillings for the construction of the second phase. Reuters Source: Africa News

Regional integration is still a highly discussed topic with the Brexit vote still fresh in minds across the globe. Of course, over two months on, conversations have moved beyond shock, joy and dismay. The focus is currently on the potential effects of the decision made by the British people. On surface, it may seem as though African nations will not be directly affected once the British Prime Minister triggers Article 50. While this article will not focus on the potential consequences, it is important to note that there will be both positive and negative aftereffects. There are analysts, economists and policymakers sharing their thoughts as to the impact on Africa as a region and specifically for individual countries. But what the Brexit vote should teach us is that no one can accurately make predictions about such issues. It is within this vein that the question of the East African Community (EAC) comes to the table. Should integration in this region still be a priority? Should the pace of the integration movement be hastened or slowed down? Signs coming out of Arusha suggest that integration for the region is still on course and why shouldn’t it be? The revived Community, which is a few years away from its twenty-first birthday, has moved somewhat slowly and that has worked well so far. There have been criticisms over the years that the process should move faster but to what avail? With a cumulative population of approximately 146 million it makes sense for there to...

Ngwenya addresses the summit yesterday. / Timothy Kisambira. The words ‘Tripartite Free Trade Area’ (TFTA) were among the most commonly used phrases at the Global African Investment Summit, which closed yesterday, at the Kigali Convention Centre. The tripartite region, launched last year in Egypt, aims at economically integrating Africa’s three major regional economic blocs – the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC). The three economic blocs would create the largest trading bloc in Africa, comprising 26 countries, with about 620 million consumers and a combined GDP of almost $1.2 trillion. So far, 17 countries have ratified membership to the region with the remaining nine expected to follow suit. Experts say that realisation of the free trade area hold great potential on Africa’s development as it will promote intra-Africa trade and develop the African market. The TFTA is expected to contribute to Africa’s development, experts citing the opportunity to open up a reliable market that spans across the continent to allow free movement of labour and services. Rather than rely on negotiations with the West, promoters of the free trade area say that countries will be able to reduce the cost of doing business among them. In an interview with The New Times at the sidelines of the summit, Sidiso Ngwenya, the secretary-general of COMESA, said the new bloc will have trade values worth more than $50 billion. This, he said, will be a welcome boost in...

NORWEGIAN FLAGGED HOEGH AUTOLINERS CARGO SHIP AT THE PORT OF MOMBASA, IN KENYA. PHOTO: AP/SIPA Kenya on Saturday inaugurated the first part of a new container terminal at Mombasa which is expected to boost by 50% the volume of cargo handled by East Africa's largest seaport. Construction of the $296.74m terminal began in March 2012 and was completed in February this year. The project was financed by a loan from Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Kenya will repay the loan over a 40-year period. A gateway to East and Central Africa, the Indian Ocean port funnels imports of fuel and consumer goods as well as exports of tea and coffee from landlocked neighbours such as Uganda and Rwanda. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who opened the facility, said the terminal heralded "a whole new era in the development of our ports and facilitation of the region's international trade". A bigger cargo capacity for Mombasa was crucial because of the discovery of oil and gas in the region, he said. British explorer Tullow Oil and partner Africa Oil discovered oil in Lokichar in northwest Kenya in 2012. Recoverable reserves are an estimated 750m barrels of crude and commercial production is expected to commence in 2017. Uganda also has confirmed crude reserves while Kenya's other neighbour Tanzania has huge gas discoveries. The new terminal can handle 550,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year and will ramp up Mombasa's existing annual cargo handling capacity from 1.05 million TEUs to 1.6 million TEUs....