Christopher Farai Charamba Correspondent Richard Mullin once said: “The only man I envy is the man who has not yet been to Africa . . . for he has so much to look forward to.” Over the past few years the global perception of Africa has been changing. The Africa rising narrative coupled with the positive growth rates in many regions on the continent have contributed to changing former negative attitudes the world had towards Africa. A direct consequence of this changing narrative has been an increase in international tourists to Africa. In 2014, African Business Magazine stated that Africa’s tourism industry was the fastest growing in the world. According to the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa’s tourism industry is set to spur more economic growth for the continent and directly employ 6,7 million people by 2021. In 2011, tourism in sub-Saharan Africa accounted directly or indirectly for one in every 20 jobs. While there has been a marked increase in international tourists to the continent, it has always been a cumbersome process for Africans travelling within Africa to other countries. With flying too expensive and considered a luxury, a lack of proper road and rail networks between African countries has limited Africans in terms of exploring their continent. Another hindrance has been the need to obtain a visa to visit other African countries and a lack of a common passport akin to the one in the European Union that would allow African nationals easier access to other African states. This,...

The 17th East African Community Heads of State Summit admitted South Sudan as a new member of the East African Community partner states. This historical endorsement was made on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 in Arusha- Tanzania. Negotiations to South Sudan’s accession to the EAC began in November 2014 and truly there has been relatively an accelerated timeline to their conclusion. This clearly shows the willingness of all stakeholders to have the World’s newest nation join the East African community. The whole idea of the EAC integration is largely about creation of a wider market base, infrastructure development and guaranteed security within the region. The inclusion of south Sudan as an EAC partner state certainly provides a much needed push for both a wider market base from 150 million people to 162 millions and ultimately a beam of light in our regional security angle. A key feature of South Sudan’s membership is undoubtedly the thrust on strengthening the already existing market especially for agricultural produce. Here, Uganda and Kenya have significantly enjoyed trading with South Sudan and this has resulted into traders bringing in millions of dollars that have boosted our foreign exchange base. As for infrastructure development, we are likely to witness a tremendous improvement of the road network from partner states towards South Sudan. The standard gauge Railway project that was commissioned on October 8, 2014 will also take a shorter period to accomplish than otherwise expected. It’s also important to note that our region has largely experienced security...

NAIROBI (HAN) March 21. 2016. Public Diplomacy & Regional Security News. Local industries have received a major boost after the East African Community relaxed the rules on goods made in partner states. According to the revised rules of origin, goods made in partner states will now be sold duty-free. The more accommodating rules of origin have been under discussion for a year, and are expected to promote locally manufactured goods to increase intra-regional trade. The biggest beneficiaries of the revised rules of origin are steel companies, East African Breweries Ltd, General Motors, Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers, Kensalt Ltd and Mikoani Traders, whose products will now benefit the preferential tariff treatment. The products will be required to have a certificate of origin issued by the originating country, showing that they have a local content input of at least 30 per cent, unlike previously when the threshold was set at 35 per cent. Under the old rules, 25 per cent duty was imposed because certain parts or ingredients used in their assembly or production were imported from outside the economic bloc. Key products, on which duty has been scrapped are East African Breweries Ltd’s Smirnoff Vodka (Red and Blue), Smirnoff Ice (Black and Red), and Gilbeys. Motor vehicles manufactured from completely knocked down kits (CKDs) by General Motors; vehicles manufactured by Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers; wheat flour made by Mikoani Traders in Tanzania, salt manufactured by Kensalt Ltd and steel products (nails, chain links, welded wire mesh) will be exempted from the duty. According...

The 17th Ordinary East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit, early this month, endorsed and launched the EAC Vision 2050, a blueprint articulating the bloc’s desired future of a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically-united Community. According to a communiqué, the EAC leaders committed to implementing the vision and ensure that by 2050, the bloc will have transformed into an upper-middle income region within a secure and politically united east Africa based on the principles of inclusiveness and accountability. The Vision was initially approved during a Council of Ministers’ meeting in Arusha, in 2014, after which a steering committee was established, to provide quality assurance of the process. Consultations were reportedly undertaken among a multidisciplinary team of experts from the Partner States and the EAC Secretariat with technical inputs from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Consultations focused on identifying priority areas that would underpin the Vision for the next 34 years. Rwanda’s EALA member Dr Odette Nyiramilimo is one of the people who participated in the process. Though she had not yet had a chance to read the final document, Dr Nyiramilimo told The New Times, last week, that the most important aspect that was included, “is that EAC will be developed, at least to the level of middle income countries.” “For that to happen, the political federation would have been achieved,” she said. Dr Nyiramilimo noted that she is optimistic that the process of implementation will go forward, “because we have visionary leaders,” and it...

A study by two international oil firms, warning of a possible delay in the completion of an oil pipeline, was at the centre of talks between Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni at State House, Nairobi, on Monday. Sources within the Energy sector said that Tullow Oil plc and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) had a carried out research, whose findings warned Uganda against going ahead with its plan to construct the Northern Pipeline from Hoima through Lokichar to the Lamu Port. It was understood that two firms, working together with French oil company Total, warned that Uganda’s plans to start extracting crude oil for export in 2018 could be delayed if it goes ahead with the Kenya deal. Monday, President Museveni and his delegation presented the findings of the research to the Kenyan team led by President Kenyatta to justify Kampala’s recent decision to shift its focus to Tanzania, a route, which is much longer than the Kenyan option. PROTRACTED DISPUTES Sources said the study warned that Kenya has had a history of protracted land compensations, which would delay the construction of the pipeline from Lokichar to Lamu. “Uganda’s concern was that research by Tullow and CNOOC suggested that land compensation could be major factor in delaying the construction of the northern pipeline,” said a source who attended the meeting. The study pointed to the bitter disputes involved in the acquisition of land for the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-EthiopiaTransport (Lapsset) and in the construction of the Standard Gauge...

Seven border posts connecting Kenya and its East African neighbours are now complete increasing trade by 23 per cent within the bloc. Speaking on behalf of EAC chairperson John Magufuli at the third EAC assembly in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Tanzania Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said seven of the 15 borders earmarked to operate as One Stop Border Posts (OSBP) have transformed trade within the bloc. “Seven are complete and four others are operating as OSBPs using bilateral agreements,” said Mr Majaliwa in a statement, "Trade is now at 23 per cent, over and above intra-African Trade figure of 12 per cent.” Among them are the Rwanda Burundi OSBSP connecting at Gasenyi/Nemba in Rusizi district, three Kenya – Tanzania border posts converging at Lunga Lunga/HoroHoro, Holili/Taveta, Isebania/Sirari. Others are; Uganda - Rwanda border posts converging at Kagitumba/Mirama Hills and Rwanda- Tanzania border posts converging at Rusumo. The facilities worth billions of shillings combined are part of the East Africa Trade and Transportation Facilitation Project. The project aims at modernising and strengthening customs administration and border control agencies in the region to reduce non-tariff costs on trade and smuggling at the border. PHENOMENAL INCREASE Mr Majaliwa stated that already, the current increment in the value of trade adds to the 300 per cent increase from Sh202.5 billion in 2005 to Sh607.5 billion in 2014. Majority of the border posts were completed late last year, in future the bloc is expected to register phenomenal increase in trade. "These numbers coupled with...

A fierce battle, including court cases, had been staged against the deployment of a more effective system that should have gone live early last year. So widespread is the abuse of Simba, the system used in clearing imported cargo, that more than Sh68 billion is now feared to have been stolen by staffers of commercial banks in collusion with KRA officials. “The system currently experiences downtime of 11 hours a week due to outdated hardware and software,” TradeMark Africa (TMA) - a regional not-for-profit firm - said of the Simba system. The firm described the Simba system as having basic modules and another 14 sub-systems interfaced with the core system. “This kind of system architecture means there are multiple points of authentication for users and multiple points of system failure,” TMA added, in a sentiment that has been vindicated following the prosecution of two bankers over a Sh124 million tax evasion scam at the Namanga border. The Namanga crossing point is not nearly Kenya’s busiest customs office considering the volume of trade with Tanzania, as Uganda is a much bigger trading partner. Chris Kiptoo, previously the country manager of the firm, and currently the Trade permanent secretary, said TMA had set aside about Sh1.1 billion to help KRA find a replacement to its faulty revenue collection system. “We at Trademark have partnered with the National Treasury through Kenya Revenue Authority to replace the customs management system with a budget of Sh1.1 billion that we will use to roll out a...

There has been a buzz in East Africa since Tanzania’s President John Magufuli announced on March 2 that he had clinched a deal with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for a pipeline transporting crude oil to the port of Tanga. The 1,410-kilometre pipeline, that will connect Uganda’s Albertine basin oil fields to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast, is projected to cost $4 billion. There is regional drama here, because Tanzania is seen as having beaten out early favourite Kenya. News reports quoted Kenyan officials saying the Uganda-Tanzania deal wasn’t done yet, and that it was scheduled to hold meetings with Kampala. The pipeline through Kenya would cost slightly more – $4.5 billion. Tullow, which has oil discoveries in Uganda and Kenya, came out in favour of the route through Kenya, saying it offered “obvious economies of scale.” Clearly, there is more than economics at play here. First, though, the pipeline project has to take off, and with oil still hovering just over $30 a barrel, there are those who are sceptical that it will do so any day soon. Matters have not been helped by the fact that Uganda’s violent and shambolic February election has given investors the jitters and it could take a few more months for the dust to settle and the Museveni government to succeed in calming nerves and restoring confidence in the country. That said, from one point of view, there is a not-so-silent race between Kenya and Tanzania for the title of the largest economy in East...

Officials representing the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam were in Washington last week seeking US public and private financing for projects to modernise shipping facilities and improve security at them. Competition between the two largest ports in the East African Community emerged as a subtle sub-text in the Kenyan and Tanzanian presentations at a business briefing sponsored by the US Trade and Development Agency. The two officials’ PowerPoint displays were also noteworthy for what they omitted. Tony Kibwana, principal security officer for the Kenya Ports Authority, said little about the $24 billion planned port project in Lamu dubbed Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor. Ntandu Mathayo Ntandu, planning manager for the Tanzania Ports Authority, made no mention of the $11 billion Bagamoyo Bay project which, if completed, would dwarf both the Dar and Mombasa ports in scope. The two port specialists’ reticence on those projects, both of that have been slow to get off the drawing boards, may have stemmed in part from China’s lead role in financing both Lapsset and Bagamoyo Bay. USTDA, the East African officials’ host, encourages US private companies to become involved with infrastructure projects in developing countries. Mr Kibwana described Mombasa as the biggest port in the region. “We aspire to be one of the leading ports in the world,” he added in his remarks to US business executives and government officials. Mr Ntandu outlined plans to expand capacity at Dar and to develop a new facility at Mwambani Bay to...

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is due in Nairobi to hold talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta on the construction of the Kenya-Uganda crude oil pipeline. State House Nairobi said Mr Kenyatta and Mr Museveni will hold bilateral talks on the pipeline, a key factor in the Northern Corridor infrastructure projects. The talks come amid speculation that Uganda has struck an agreement with Tanzania to construct an oil pipeline to transport expected Uganda oil through the neighbouring country. The proposed link will cover 1,120 kilometres and its construction is estimated to create 15,000 jobs. Kenya and Uganda had agreed to construct a joint pipeline to transport crude from the oilfields of Hoima to the Port of Lamu, through Kenya’s oilfields at Lokichar. Huge oil deposits Last week, Tullow Oil announced the discovery of huge oil deposits in Kerio Valley, throwing a lifeline to the prospects of a viable Uganda-Kenya oil pipeline. State House spokesman Manoa Esipisu said Uganda’s oil producers — Irish company Tullow Oil, French company Total and China’s CNOC — have been invited to the Uhuru-Museveni talks at State House. Tanzania is competing with Kenya for the pipeline that will tap Ugandan oil deposits. Kenya wants the northern route developed — as part of the Lamu Port, South Sudan, and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project — to move oil resources from Lokichar to the new port at Lamu. Source: Business Daily Africa