The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) was adopted during the last African Union Summit. It will bring together the fragmented three main organisations;the Common Market for Eastern and Southern  African countries (Comesa), the East African Community and the Southern African Development community. It is a combined market of over 1.2 billion people, the largest in the world but which, unfortunately has not transformed into intra-African trade as is the case of the European which is half of the market. Sometime this month, the inaugural CFTA summit is scheduled to be held in Kigali which coincides with President Paul Kagame occupying the chairmanship of the AU. A free trade area that encompasses the whole continent will be a milestone in an area that has a combined GDP of over $3 billion that is lying to waste. Most African countries have been conditioned to depend on foreign aid yet they are the source of developed countries’ bouncing health. Is this now time for the sleeping giant to wake up? That will only be informed by the commitment of those who will attend the CFTA summit. Africa leaders cannot afford to just meet, talk, go home and throw the signed agreements in the bottom drawer. It has to act and put aside the various foreign interests that have been calling the shots as people wallow in poverty. It is an embarrassment, if not an affront its people, when an African country rich in resources goes around with a begging bowl as its riches...

East African Community (EAC) member states are racing against time to finalise talks on proposals to lower age limit for imported used cars by 2021. The move to slash age limit to five years is informed by the urgency to spur the growth of motor assembly industries. At the just-concluded Heads of State Summit in Kampala, it was agreed that the process should be accelerated. Talks on harmonisation of age limits for imported vehicles and setting up assembly plants had been put on hold following recommendations of a study by EAC Committee on Industrialisation and Japan International Co-operation Agency, which said such undertaking (harmonisation process) would be grim without reducing the number of vehicles imported into the region. According to the proposals, the six countries — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan — will reduce age limits for imported vehicles to five years by 2021. But it is understood that some countries are yet to ‘make up their minds’. Their indecisiveness is now holding back the entire process, according to sources familiar with the matter. Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan would be the most affected because they do not have age limits set on such imports, while Tanzania and Kenya have their limits set at 10 and eight years respectively. Kenya favours the five-year age limit and has previously cautioned other partner states that they are likely to meet resistance during negotiations. “A further review of age limit to five years, would be crucial in luring investments...

Banning the import of second-hand clothes is not the answer to reviving East Africa’s textile industry. But the deal to phase out the imports also hands another political score to the US, writes DW’s Isaac Mugabi. The move to not ban the sale of second-hand clothing was a relief to petty traders. In 2015, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania agreed on a three-year plan to gradually phase out the importation of second-hand clothes and apparel from the United States in particular. Taxes were increased exponentially on second-hand clothes to deter more imports and a complete ban was to take effect in 2019. But the ban would have come at a heavy price.  Sensing the danger, the Trump administration acted fast and issued an ultimatum for 23 February 2018, for these leaders to rescind their plan or face the consequences. The US did this to protect its second-hand export sector. And on that date before the ultimatum expired, leaders from the East Africa region, with the exception of Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, met in Kampala to discuss the repercussions. In the end they caved in to US demands. However, the trade deficit for many African countries is instantly recognizable. Imports from Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda to the US totaled $43 million (€34 million) in 2016, while US exports to the same countries amounted to $281 million, according to figures from the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).   This is not fair trade as preached by the Americans and Europeans, and this is why...

KAMPALA Uganda (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, jointly commissioned the Busia one-stop border post (OSBP) on Saturday, enabling faster cargo clearing between the two countries. The Busia OSBP added to entry and exit points already operating under the Coordinated Border Management Concept (CBMC). Busia one-stop border post is the second busiest entry point in Uganda, approximately 200 km east of Kampala and 431 km west of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The border handles transit traffic to and from the Great Lakes Region of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. President Museveni said the one stop border post arrangement is expected to allow freer movement of people between the two neighboring countries. He, however, warned border officials against inhibiting cross-border movements, adding that the OSPB comes in handy in spurring regional trade. “Trade facilitation such as OSBP, would result into prosperity because it allows the border communities as well as the two countries to do business and create wealth among themselves,” Museveni said. The Busia OSBP will bring together immigration and customs officials from two neighboring countries under one roof at border crossing points. Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials will jointly attend to importers, exporters and travellers from either side of the border under one roof. This means that transit goods, passengers, travellers and exports exiting through Busia to either Kenya or Uganda, stop once for clearance by immigration and customs officials and not...

President Museveni and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday commissioned the one-stop border post at Busia. According to Museveni, the border will boost trade between the two countries and speed up the integration process for East African states. He reiterated that the people of East Africa should move freely and do business in any East Africa state without fear. “We are brothers and sisters but unfortunately, colonialists came and divided us but what God put together, no man can temper with it,” he said. He added, “It is bad to divide people’s families leaving some members on one side and others on the other side. Why should people be divided by mere borders put up by colonialists?” President Museveni said that the one-spot border post will ease immigration and customs work, opposed to the old system of continually asking truck drivers to open their truck doors for checks on either side of the border. The border post worth $12 million (Shs44 billion) was constructed by Cross –border business advisory organization, Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) with funding from UK Department of International Development (DFID) and the Global Affairs, Canada. It has combined the traditionally two-stop borders into one, as well as consolidated other border control functions into shared spaces between the two countries for exit and entry points. “I repeat what I said while swearing in, that we want the people of East Africa to move across the borders put up by colonialists to do business freely and if...

The regional body is set to become the first Regional Economic Community (REC) in the world to introduce and distribute seed labels and certificates to improve access to quality seeds in the region. A senior Comesa representative, Mr Joseph Mpunga, revealed this during a regional meeting to discuss modalities of rolling out Comesa Seed Labels and Certificates in Lusaka last week. He said out of 80 million small-holder farmers in the Comesa region, only 20 percent have access to quality and improved seed. Once operational, Mr Mpunga said the Comesa regional seed certification will be issued by national seed authorities upon verification. He said a seed lot has to be registered on the Comesa variety catalogue and inspected to meet set field standards including laboratory analysis. “The potential total seed market in Comesa is at two million metric tonnes of quality and improved seed. However, the region is currently producing and accessing less than 520 000 metric tonnes of quality and improved seed. This has continued to impact negatively on the people,” said Comesa. “Although Comesa is home to some of the major seed producing countries in Africa such as Egypt, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, the levels of supply remain stagnant with each country differing in the laws, procedures and systems applied to the seed value chain.” Comesa said the major challenge was due to fragmentation of regional seed markets into small national markets whereby each country operates its own seed policies and regulations different from other Comesa...

Arusha — Tanzania and Burundi have been directed to ratify the double taxation agreement of the East African Community (EAC) - and formally deposit the ratification instruments with the Community's headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, by July this year. The just-ended Heads of State Summit in Kampala, Uganda, noted that double taxation could be ruinous to regional trade and, as such, has to be avoided. In that regard - it was argued - a double taxation agreement would allow income generated in any of the six EAC member states of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan to be taxed only once. The lack of such an agreement so far has given legitimacy for national revenue bodies to maintain the status quo, namely: taxing the same income/goods in two or more different countries. The Kampala meeting also directed the EAC states to expedite establishment of the proposed Monetary Institute and allied institutions so as to lay the ground for the envisaged East African Monetary Union (Eamu). It further called for the streamlining of the East African Development Bank's activities into the main EAC structure after a thorough review of its charter. It was stressed that deliberate efforts must be made to promote the cotton, textile, apparel and leather industries "to make the region more competitive - and also create jobs." Priority should be given to the development of a competitive domestic textiles and leather sub-sectors that would provide affordable and quality products. The EAC Council of Ministers - which is...

East Africa is sure about the need for new infrastructure, less sure about how to pay for it. How did a man, wanted by the police in South Africa, managed to vist the South African consulate in Dubai last week and leave unscathed, twice? And what will Robert Mugabe have to say when he meets the man who replaced him, Zimbabwe's new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa? East African heads of state have recommitted to the construction of several hundred ambitious infrastructure projects intended to link the region and increase electricity generation capacity. To complete these projects the region will need at least 80 billion euros over a 10-year period. If the projects are implemented, east Africa will see a huge increase in electricity generation capacity, 7,600km of improved roads as well as 4,000km of standard gauge railway lines, 3,000km of oil pipelines and an oil refinery. However, at the weekend East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit in Kampala, attended by Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, John Magufuli of Tanzania, Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, it was clear that funding these projects would be an uphill task. With the exception of Kiir, who was preoccupied with rallying the EAC to support him against international arms embargoes and sanctions, and Burundi’s Vice-President Gaton Sindimwo, whose only contribution to the discourse was to say he backed the proposals, the summit dwelt largely on how the six countries would raise the billions needed to complete the infrastructure plan....

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta has encouraged Ugandans and Kenyans to create wealth and prosperity by utilizing the new Busia one-stop border post (OSBP) between the two countries. Kenyatta believes it is only through regional corporation by allowing free movement of goods and persons that the East African Community can compete with the likes of China and India. He said this at the weekend as he joined his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to launch the $13m facility constructed by TradeMark Africa (TMA). “Why should someone from Uganda need a passport to be in Kenya and those who commit crimes in Kenya we should be able to track them to Kampala rather than stop at the borders of Kenya,” Kenyatta said. Under the new arrangement, government agencies of the two countries will operate under one building to hasten clearance of goods and people. For instance, revenue authorities and immigration officers from Kenya and Uganda will jointly clear imports and exports under one roof, instead of clearing in both immigration points in Kenya and Uganda. Frank Matsaert, the chief executive officer of TMA, said the facility was constructed with funds from United Kingdom and the Canadian government. TMA is a not-for-profit Aid for trade organization supported by seven foreign governments with the objective of growing the prosperity of East African trade. “The post has reduced transportation time and clearance by saving one third of the current time, about 90 per cent of the traders that previously used unofficial routes are now trading through...

In 1966, the famous giant ferry – MV Uhuru – first floated on the fresh waters of Lake Victoria shortly after it was delivered by Scottish company, Yarrow Shipbuilders. The arrival of the 1,000-tonne, 91-metre long cargo carrier – and its sister MV Umoja signalled an era of a business boom across the East African Community (EAC) as the two plied the Kisumu-Mwanza-Port Bell route in the world’s second-largest fresh water lake. These vessels, owned and operated by the now defunct East Africa Railways and Harbours Corporation (EARH), were the longest on any of the East African lakes and sailed around the lake where they were complemented by rail wagons in Kisumu, Mwanza, Musoma and Jinja. But a wave of nationalisation in Uganda by President Milton Obote and the eviction of Asian traders by a military junta led by Idi Amin saw business dwindle and the country’s economy collapsed. With the collapse of the EARH, the vessels were detained in Kenya. Forty years later, MV Uhuru lies at an under-equipped dry dock rusting away where time and corrosion is slowly gnawing the steel hulls. The wagon ferry too is slowly decaying – with its old grandeur fading away. MV Uhuru’s engine stopped roaring some 12 years ago due to technical hitches and the stoppage of rail transport to the lake in 2006. MV Umoja was bedevilled by accidents and neglect which was once aptly captured in Paul Theroux’s 2002 book Dark Star Safari when he wrote: “The cabin room was...