Mr Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were sworn in to serve the country for the second term, saying only collaborations with their EAC partners will help in renewed energy and optimism to the country’s unity. The swearing in of the top leaders follows their victory in the recent repeat polls. At the well-attended inauguration ceremony at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, with presence of international and regional leaders, President Kenyatta said working together was the way to deliver peace and prosperity, which EAC citizens are yearning for. “We will work for peace in our region, for that is what good neighbours do,” he said. On behalf of President John Magufuli, the Vice-President, Ms Samia Suluhu joined other regional and international key figures to grace the event. She arrived in Nairobi yesterday morning accompanied by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation Dr Suzan Kolimba. “To our brothers and sisters in the East African community, you are our closest friends, our fate and yours are joined at the hip, our troubles and triumphs are yours, and yours are ours,” he stated. He said as mark of Kenya’s continued commitment to the fellow East Africans, from now on citizens from other EAC member states will be treated like Kenyans. “Like your Kenyan brothers and sisters, you will need only your identity card. You can now work, do business; own property, farm and if you wish, and find a willing partner, you can marry and settle in Kenya,” he assured, adding,...

Next year will be a good year for Sub-Saharan Africa. After a challenging 2017 for many of its nations, 2018 will see economic growth return across the continent, gas activity boom and fintech innovation pick up in speed. So says Ecobank Research as it recently launched the newest version of its yearly Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Guidebook, which provides analysis on African markets for investors and businesses. The research department of the Pan-African bank forecasts three key trends that will take hold across Africa during the next 12 months. GTRtakes a closer look at them.   1. Rebounding economy after a trying year Low commodity prices have hit many economies across the African continent over the past few years and put the brakes on years of steep growth. But 2018 is expected to be the year that gives African growth a new boost. “Growth is returning to Africa next year,” Edward George, head of Ecobank Group Research, tells GTR. “Now that doesn’t mean we are seeing these amazing growth rates we saw maybe 10 years ago of up to 5% a year, but growth is definitely returning.” This growth will in particular be driven by a recovery in the region’s economic heavyweights such as Nigeria and South Africa – countries that have been especially challenged by slumping commodity prices. Ecobank also points to the ongoing growth in the continent’s top performers, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire and, more recently, Ghana. “A lot of people got the wrong impression about the slowdown in growth in...

 Kenya on Wednesday signed a $620 million agreement to build a 530 km (329 mile) highway from its east coast to the centre of the country, part of a campaign to boost its role as a regional trade hub. A consortium including a unit of South Africa’s Group Five and the Development Bank of Southern Africa with work with the state. Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said in a statement the road would link Lamu on the coast to Isiolo, north of Nairobi, via Garissa. The consortium will design, build, finance, maintain, operate and transfer the highway. Work is due to start in mid 2018 and be completed within four years. Kenya wants to build up a role as a regional trade and transport hub, serving as a link to landlocked countries such as Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. It is seeking more private investment to maintain the pace of spending on highways, railways and other vital assets while reducing its budget deficit. The Public Private Partnership model has been touted as a promising route to fund new infrastructure across Africa, a continent that struggles with poor transport networks. “The signing of this agreement shows continued confidence of international investors and its economic stability,” Macharia said. Macharia said the highway was part of a 2,000 road network linking a planned port in Lamu with the rest of Kenya and neighbouring South Sudan and Ethiopia, of which 505 km is already complete. He added that the consortium will operate and maintain the road...

Africans visiting Kenya will no longer need to get a visa before traveling to the East African nation, the latest country to join a continent-wide push to boost integration and free movement. During his inauguration for a second term in office, president Uhuru Kenyatta announced that Africans wishing to visit Kenya will be eligible to receive a visa on arrival. The directive, he said, was meant to enhance trade, security, and intercontinental travel. Kenya already had one of the more straightforward online processes for short-term visas. “The free movement of people on our continent has always been a cornerstone of Pan-African brotherhood and fraternity,” Kenyatta said. “The freer we are to travel and live with one another, the more integrated and appreciative of our diversity, we will become.” He made his announcement in front of African leaders from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, and Zambia, among others. Moving across Africa or anywhere else is tough for Africans, who have the least powerful passports in the world. Even North Americans and Europeans travel faster and with less restrictive visa processes within the continent than most Africans. But over the last couple of years, there’s been a drive by the African Union and others to see that movement across the continent becomes easier. The African Development Bank, which monitors visa openness of countries, says at least 21 countries have loosened or scrapped their visa rules altogether. Along with Seychelles, which has had no visa requirements for long, Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius, Nigeria, and Beninhave all adopted this no visa policy over...

Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and DR Congo officials have committed to work together in addressing challenges hindering cross-border trade in the region. The commitment, which is expected to help thousands of small-scale cross-border traders – especially women – to carry out their daily business smoothly, was made on Monday in Kigali during a regional advocacy meeting on cross-border trade. The meeting brought together regional public institution representatives whose mandates relate to cross-border trade. It aimed to discuss challenges and the progress made in addressing them in line with enhancing regional integration that enables cross-border traders to contribute to sustainable economic development. It was organised by Pro-femme Twese Hamwe, a civil society umbrella of 57 women advocacy groups in Rwanda. The cross-border trade features small businesses, like selling fish, tomatoes, milk, and fruits. It was noted that, despite its vital contribution to food security, providing employment as well as allowing people access to goods and services unavailable in their own countries at affordable prices, cross-border trade remains under developed. The major challenges faced by cross-border traders include limited access to credit, lack of information on regional trading protocols and services, robbery, gender based violence and confiscation. According to Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, cross-border trade contributes over $ 170 million annually to GDP. Markets Robert Opirah, the director-general of trade and investment at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said the Government has been creating a friendly operating environment for cross-border traders. The Government has been constructing markets at the...

Information and communications technology is driving an entrepreneurial boom in Kenya, and it is youth at the forefront of creating new businesses. Young entrepreneurs such as Jacob Otieno, the founder of Tablets for Schools, and Danson Muchemi, the founder of Jambopay, are some of the emerging trailblazers in this vibrant space. But it is the concerted government and private sector push to build telecoms infrastructure and digital services that is helping to catalyse the trend. The Communication Authority of Kenya’s (CA) latest statistics place the country’s Internet penetration at 90 per cent or 43.3 million users as at the end of June this year, compared to 37.7 million the previous year. EMPLOYMENT According to The Kenya Youth Report 2016 by Aga Khan University, the median age in Kenya is 19 years and 80 per cent of the population is below 35. People aged 15 to 24 are striving to get a good education, but the promise of gainful employment in the formal sector remains elusive. Yet many of Kenya’s digital natives aim to become self-sufficient by starting businesses of their own — with connectivity and digital platforms offering them efficient new ways to access information, market businesses, conduct transactions and connect with customers. WORK CULTURE As enthusiastic users of the latest technology, they are creating their own opportunities using social platforms, cloud software and other digital tools. The way young people find or carry out work is changing. They are shunning newspaper classifieds in favour of online job listings and...

Five countries in East Africa are at different phases of implementing an electronic cargo clearing systems at the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to address the problem of container and cargo congestion at the two ports, cut down on operational costs and increase revenue for governments in the region. The cargo clearing system is being backed by a new cargo tracking system that eliminates dumping and theft of cargo in transit along the northern transport corridor anchored on the port of Mombasa and the Central transport corridor that is supported by the port of Dar es Salaam. The two ports have recorded growth in the number of containers and volumes of cargo in the last 10 years as East Africa’s economic performance surged to 6.3% by 2015 compared to the sub Saharan Africa’s average of 4.2% at the time. Inefficiencies at the two ports, which have greatly been addressed for the last two years, led to extended ship dwell times, spatial constraints especially at port terminals as clearance of containers and general cargo took too long. Incidents of dumping and theft of goods in transit have also been reported previously because of lack of an efficient system to monitor cargo movement from port to warehouse. At the port of Dar es Salaam, the World Bank estimates an annual loss of $2.6 billion for Tanzania and neighboring countries that rely on the gateway for international trade such as Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and parts of...

Members of African regional trading blocs have been asked to hasten implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to reduce cross border trade costs in a bid to grow economies. Mr Erastus Mwencha, the former Deputy Chairman of the Africa Union Commission, said the efficiency of trade hinges on the support of regional blocs such as the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in adopting a more open stance on trading with each other. Mr Mwencha said the TFA would bring about new markets and cost reduction gains. “We must minimise cross border costs in Africa,” said Mr Mwencha. “When the trade facilitation agreement was introduced globally, it showed that if it is implemented optimally there will be a cost reduction of up to 14 per cent. This will add to the global trade value of about $1 trillion.” Mr Mwencha was speaking at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies during the Second World Customs Organisation East and Southern Africa Regional Conference in Nairobi last week. It was hosted by the World Customs Organisation Regional Training Centre (WCO RTC Kenya). Delegates from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) and SADC attended the conference where they discussed the impact and the implications of the TFA. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was represented by Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, its Secretary General, who elaborated on the steps they were...

As the Jubilee team enters its second term of leadership, I am sure it is busy firming up development plans including infrastructure projects. The leaders will likely be focusing on projects that will define their legacy as they seek to complete those started and embark on new ones. Unlike in their first term, the national debt is today quite high thus limiting cash available for new projects. This is why the government will need to sharpen its pencils in deciding what projects to prioritise. It is expected that only those projects that clearly add value to Jubilee’s economic, political and social agenda are likely to make the cut and this will largely borrow from their election promises. In 2013 the government prominently focused on regional connectivity infrastructure, especially with Uganda and Rwanda. Out of these, it is mainly the standard gauge railway (SGR) that has survived the day. The railway is operational all the way to Nairobi with much progress recorded for a Naivasha extension. To register full economic value, the SGR should remain a top priority until it reaches the border. It is understood that Uganda is finalising funding for the railway from the border to Kampala, and thereafter Rwanda will likely extend it to Kigali. It is when the railway reaches Kampala that Mombasa port will realise its maximum potential, while ring-fencing its competitiveness as a regional port. With the SGR already making good progress, the proposed dual carriageway between Mombasa and Nairobi becomes less of an economic...

Orders from Kenyan factories continue to face increasing threat from cheaper products from Asia and import substitution in key regional countries, putting into question the competitiveness of the country’s manufacturing sector. The country is increasingly relying on foreign countries for supplies, with the value of imports growing at faster rate of 23 per cent year-on-year, to nearly Sh1.16 trillion in eight months to August. The value of exports, on the other hand, was flat in that period, expanding by 0.2 per cent to Sh394.4 billion, latest data from the State-owned Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows. While the total exports may not give a clear picture of the hard times the country’s manufacturing firms are facing, a look at exports to selected regional countries does. Tanzania, which Kenya has had a long-standing trade feud with, posted the biggest drop in the order book, Sh5.66 billion, compared with last year. Demand from land-locked Uganda, Kenya’s largest trading partner, and Rwanda, was largely muted, with the value of orders falling by Sh717 million and Sh267 million, respectively, to Sh41.127 billion and Sh11. 394 billion. Exports to Ethiopia also fell by Sh1.02 billion in the January-August period to Sh4.675 billion, with only Somalia, where consignments are largely khat (miraa), posting a Sh3.05 billion rise to hit Sh13.929 billion. “When we started the EAC, they didn’t have many industries. (But) their industries have been growing. What, for example, Uganda used to import from here, it is now manufacturing,” chairperson of Kenya Association of...