By Mwakera Mwajefa Container handling will increase from one million to two million a year at the port of Mombasa once the standard gauge railway begins operations in June next year, says Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia. Mr Macharia said Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP) would also grow by 1.5 per cent annually, courtesy of the new line. "Through this project, we believe it will positively impact on transforming the port of Mombasa in terms of container movements compared to the current situation," he said. Mr Macharia spoke on Saturday after touring the Mombasa West railway project accompanied by the chairman of the Standing Committee of China National People's Congress Zhang Dejiang. Noting that Kenya is the economic powerhouse in East Africa, Mr Macharia said the new railway would open up trade and commerce along the northern corridor that serves Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. As it stands currently, said the CS, the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday approved Phase Two B of the project from Naivasha to Kisumu from where Phase Two C -- from Kisumu to Malaba border post -- will be commissioned. Speaking after touring the railway projects funded by his government at Skembo, Port Reitz on Saturday, Mr Zhang said its completion would tremendously change the country's transport sector. He expressed satisfaction that 90 per cent of the project was near completion and what remained was only 10 per cent, which he promised would be hastened. "After my briefing today (Saturday), I am happy to report that...

In downtown Nairobi, near the River Road-Tom Mboya Street junction, business is a buzz. Scores of small scale traders run shops, popularly known as stalls, selling mostly office and home electronic appliances. Competition is stiff as evident by traders who jostle to catch the eye of potential customers. Mr Franklin Njorua is one of the traders. His small shop is almost bursting at the seams with wares. However his business prospects are not as bright as they seem. He told Money that the fortunes of small businesses have changed dramatically after government implemented new rules that require all imported cargo to have a certificate of conformity. The small traders like Mr Njorua who used to bring several varieties of goods in small quantities are now forced to buy in bulk in partnership with other importers or alone and bear the huge cost of inspection in China and Dubai. “I had to bring all these computers because we have to pay for inspection in China while seeking the COC (certificate of conformity) which we pay per item type. The cost of this may sometimes be even higher than what you are bringing in considering that we bring items in very small quantities,” Mr Njorua said. “It is very difficult because it takes more time to obtain goods and as you can see stock is hard to dispose and storage space is scarce. We don’t even know how to pass the cost to the customers who don’t understand these changes.” The November...

In Summary The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) believes the enactment of an omnibus law would cure, if not overcome, challenges of harmonisation of the member countries’ legislations on the community and implementation of joint programmes. Advertisement Arusha. A new legislation intended to harmonise all national laws pertaining to the East African Community (EAC) by all partner states has been proposed. The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) believes the enactment of an omnibus law would cure, if not overcome, challenges of harmonisation of the member countries’ legislations on the community and implementation of joint programmes. The regional Assembly, which ended its plenary session in Dar es Salaam recently, also wants an administration law for the Common Market Protocol be instituted to ensure its smooth implementation. “The assembly is of the view that such a move shall cure existing challenges of harmonisation of partner states’ laws pertaining to the community,” said Bobi Odiko, the spokesman of Eala in a statement to the media. In the same vein, the Eala session, the first to be held in the country’s commercial capital in nearly three years, tasked the EAC Council of Ministers to prioritise harmonisation of laws for EAC “in order to facilitate integration within the set time frames”. The Council, which is the policy organ of the community, directed the Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs to expedite implementation of the entire Article 126 of the EAC Treaty which obliges partner states to harmonise legal training and certification and encourage standardisation...

The UK has outlined plans to increase its support for infrastructure development in Africa and encourage further investment on the continent. The UK's Africa minister James Duddridge told an infrastructure conference hosted by the international and current affairs think-tank Chatham House in London on 15 March: “Infrastructure is a pipeline for money. Airports, railways and roads are all pipelines for economic activity. This requires local knowledge and skills but also global expertise and help to get people and money moving.” “UK companies have skills and expertise from project design, through planning and implementation,” Duddridge said. “British architects, professional services, legal firms and capital markets are among the best in the world and stand ready to support infrastructure development on the continent.” Duddridge said there was “no quick fix” for infrastructure challenges in Africa, but part of a new UK-led ‘Prosperity Fund’ for the region, worth £1.3 billion ($1.8bn) over five years, “will be used to help Africa grow out of poverty”. Duddridge said current UK projects include supporting “critical feasibility studies” for Tanzania’s government “to secure bigger finance through the World Bank”. “With greater funding, Tanzania can improve the port infrastructure and realise the regional trade benefits that will come from improved freight corridors across Tanzania,” he said. The UK’s Department for International Development is backing a Tanzanian government programme with the World Bank to make the major commercial port city of Dar es Salaam, on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast, “more resilient to extreme weather events”, Duddridge said. Duddridge said...

If economies had faces, then those of Uganda and Tanzania would be wearing smiles right now. The two neighbours reached a milestone when energy ministers from the nations penning a project implementation plan (PIP) on a crude oil pipeline linking them. Once completed, the project would enable over 200,000 barrels of oil to be transported per day from Uganda’s Lake Albert area to Tanzania’s Tanga port on the Indian Ocean coast ready to be supplied to the world. When signing the pact, Uganda’s Energy Minister, Irene Muloni and Tanzania’s Energy and Minerals Minister, Prof Sospeter Muhongo expressed the two state’s desire to fast track the implementation of the project, saying it is an important undertaking for the two nations in the region. Hammering the nail home, Adewale Fayemi of Total E&P Uganda, the French firm undertaking the project, cleared fears over its possible delays, saying there was no likelihood as the funds to build the pipeline are already available. President Magufuli was earlier quoted as having challenged Total to see if completion of the project could be expedited and take less than the years that have been planned. It is rather encouraging to learn that the political will is not wanting on both countries involved in the implementation of the project which, at a certain point, seemed to have been mired in high level regional politicking. On the one hand, neighbouring Kenya had her eyes on the project with the ambitious vision of linking the pipeline with Ethiopia and South...

The East African region has embarked on harmonizing laws on illegal wildlife trade as part of efforts to fight vice. The director, ministry of tourism, wildlife and antiquities, James Lutalo, said they are already working on mechanisms on how they can combat the illicit trade. "We want our laws to be harmonized. We want all countries to have tough punishments for the perpetrators like in Kenya where they have a life sentence," he said. Lutalo disclosed this while closing a five-day workshop training for law enforcement officers from different agencies on the prevention of wildlife trafficking in Entebbe. It was facilitated by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Lutalo said that although the entire East African region remains a transit route of wildlife trafficking, Uganda remains the top-most used route for many wildlife items because of its porous borders and weak laws. Margaret Kasumba, the acting law enforcement coordinator at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said they seized some 4,000kg of ivory between 2014 and 2015. She said many items go undetected due to poor coordination of various agencies and lack of skills by law enforcers. Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Police also impound 4,310kg of ivory and rhino horns in 2015. - See more at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1420150/east-africa-harmonize-laws-wildlife-trafficking#sthash.rJXe1qrE.dpuf Abel Kagumire, the manager, enforcement operations at URA, said most items were seized at Entebbe Airport disguised as shear butter, while others were camouflaged as matooke and aircraft equipment in transit to Singapore and Netherlands. Lutalo said wildlife trafficking is categorized as...

This is a critical and strategic discussion that should continue and I’m glad it was triggered by the Minister of Trade and Industry; it means it is high on the agenda of the Government of Rwanda. For industrialisation to take place, there are many prerequisites: universities must be actively involved in research and development, availability of basic infrastructure (electricity, water, transportation and Internet connectivity), access to finance (and even preferential treatment for local firms...just replicate the EXIM banks in most OECD countries) and reduction of government red tapes. During the conversations, I would also throw this question out there; what is really our competitive advantage? If we think we can manufacture tyres in Rwanda and be competitive then indeed we are missing the point. I also don’t agree with these rules of nationalistic protectionism being promoted at the East African Community level; it creates uncompetitive and non-innovative companies (this sounds like welfare of sorts...Europe has tried it before and failed). For Rwanda, what we should focus on is how to aggregate in environment protection, textile, coffee, food processing and export (products and services) to big markets in Africa, China and USA. Finally, we need to tap into outsourcing opportunities in technology and related services. That should be part and parcel of our industrialisation policy. And, don’t forget to invest in think-tanks (local and regional). Al ************************* And what is “industrialisation”? Is it switching hand work to machine work? Replacing own oriented work with factory wage work? Relinquishing personal, landlord, or...

Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto has said there is need to dismantle trade and cultural barriers that hinder the growth of African economies. Speaking at the ongoing Africa CEO forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast Monday, Ruto said regional and continental integration was critical in bringing down the walls that separate African countries and significantly expand intra-Africa trade. The Deputy President said competition for the same markets among African countries was only hurting African economies and called for urgent integration of African economies. “Intra-African trade is at a dismal 15 per cent while trade with Europe is at 60 per cent and Asian countries at 40 per cent. We need to free our economies. We can’t protect our economies and expect to make any impact on the international scene,” he said. Ruto, who is one of the key speakers, noted with satisfaction that the Eastern and Southern African regions were making positive efforts in regional integration noting that efforts are being made to bring the Southern Africa Economic bloc SADC, the East African Community and the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA) together. “This effort will bring together 26 countries with a population of 625 million people and an economy of $1.3 trillion with a huge potential for trade and investment. We must not have a low ambition for ourselves to make an impact on international trade,” he added in the statement issued in Nairobi on Tuesday. Ruto said Africa must leverage on the technology and opportunities available on...

Services exports in Kenya have accounted for more than 50% of the increase in total exports since 2005 and are poised to overtake goods exports, says a new World Bank report. Trade, transport, information and communications technology and financial services “lead the pack” of services, according to the bank’s ‘Kenya Country Economic Memorandum’ for 2016 (164-page / 8.01 MB PDF). The report said an “expansion in modern services, such as financial intermediation and mobile communications... stimulated demand for traditional services such as trade”. Kenya’s growth in mobile communications was due in part to “innovative solutions” such as the country’s M-Pesa mobile money network, the report said. “For example, there are more than 40,000 M-Pesa retail agents who also sell other products and services.” The report said: “Investment and promotion of tourism have boosted hospitality, real estate, and transport services. Re-orientation of public resources toward public and social infrastructure has promoted educational services as well as construction and transport.” In promoting private investment, the report said Kenya’s financial system “is relatively developed, so the onus should be on lowering production (infrastructure) costs and improving the business environment”. Oil revenue “may become a significant source of savings in the long term, although the potential (discoveries) is still uncertain and the outcomes will depend on how the oil sector (and revenue) is managed”, the report said. The report said “windfall revenues could help bridge Kenya’s infrastructure gaps and skills deficiencies and expand the provision of health or other social services”. However, it said...

Monday's meeting between presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni over the routing of the oil pipeline was not conclusive. Instead, the leaders resolved to have another one in two weeks in Kampala to give technical teams time to consult and explore options that could be acceptable to both countries. At the heart of the matter is the decision by Uganda to enter into a deal with Tanzania to put up a pipeline from Tanga to Hoima, otherwise referred to as the Southern Route, instead of the route through Lamu-Lacor-Hoima in western Uganda, conversely, called the Northern Route. The driving reason for this was that the Kenya route option is fraught with challenges. Related to this are the inefficiencies at Kenya's ports. Mombasa port is notorious for delays in clearing of goods due to internal inefficiencies as well as corruption, both of which raise the cost of doing business. Further, there are serious concerns about the security of the pipeline across Kenya, given the past cases of oil leaks. Although not expressly stated, Uganda is still alive to the dangers of political violence in Kenya, given what happened in 2007/8 when the rail line was destroyed and transportation of goods from Mombasa halted, causing commodity shortages across the border. Added to this is the non-tariff barriers that also increase costs. The loss of the oil pipeline business to Tanzania is not exciting. It sends a negative signal that Kenya is no longer an ideal destination for business. It leads to exportation...