The East African Community is leading in regional integration and free movement of goods and people on the continent. A new report unveiled at the ongoing African Development Week meeting at Addis Ababa indicated the cross-border movements were easiest between Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. EAC's leadership in integration, which identified various matrices including roaming costs and volume of trade, is a major indicator towards achieving the dream of a unified Africa by 2063. "Deeper regional integration means larger markets and industrialisation and productivity as part of value chains," said Erastus Mwencha, the deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, adding: "It means talent mobility thanks to greater visa openness." Kenyan citizens, for instance, only need to produce their national identification documents to enter any of the countries in the bloc, while work permit requirements are minimal as the region works towards the dream of a common currency. A regional parliament made of 54 members, which has been sitting since November 2001, is charged with streamlining the respective country laws with the vision of the five-member community. Several firms have had their shares cross-listed at the various stock exchanges. Integration in the EAC was ranked ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc where Tanzania has a cross-membership. South Africa is the most developed economy in the trading bloc, and is naturally the biggest exporter into the 15-member community. Africa's largest bloc, the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad), which draws membership from 27 countries in the northern part...

Africa, it is often said, is a continent that leapfrogs various intermediary stages of technology. From fixed to mobile telephony, Africa leapfrogged the usual phases of technological advancement. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, that on a global level, the East African Community is one of few regional blocs that have scrapped mobile roaming charges. And this is just the beginning. Introduced in October 2014, the One Network Area aims to harmonise tariffs on mobile voice calls, SMS and data transmission within the EAC. Today, roaming charges between Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda have been removed, making all mobile calls between the three countries local. This has led to a minimum 400 per cent increase in the volume of calls — a direct benefit to EAC citizens and African businesses operating across the region’s borders. Previously, making calls across the EAC was more expensive than calling Europe, America or Asia. The second phase of the ONA initiative is underway, with telecom operators revising SMS and data charges downwards. Rwanda began this process in August 2015, and the idea is to have a truly integrated regional bloc with all mobile telephony barriers removed. Compare this with older and more advanced regional blocs in the West or in Asia. The European Union for example, only recently voted new rules that will scrap mobile roaming charges — a reality that will happen in 2017. This has taken the EU almost a decade of negotiations and an interim cap on roaming charges is...

Rwanda’s economic managers face the daunting task of crafting new measures to bridge the ballooning trade deficit. The country continues to import more goods and services, eating up its narrow foreign-exchange earnings due to sluggish growth in exports. Despite ongoing efforts to boost exports, the latest central bank figures released this past week show that Rwanda’s trade deficit widened by 12.7 per cent in the first two months of 2016, from $263.55 million to $297.02 million due to high import demand, which increased by 7.2 per cent in value. Meanwhile exports decreased by 9.7 per cent. There is growing concern that the widening current account deficit could discourage foreign investors worried about losing their money, while making it difficult for the country to pay its foreign debt as the currency depreciates further. Figures show that formal exports covered 20.6 per cent of formal imports against 24.4 per cent in the same period of 2015. As a result, the deficit intensified pressure on the foreign exchange market with the franc depreciating against the dollar by 2.6 per cent on March 24 compared with December 2015. The economy remains vulnerable to domestic and global shocks, in particular lack of foreign exchange, which could undermine growth. READ: Huge import bill strangles Rwandan industries, slows down growth “If the current deficit becomes unsustainable, it will ultimately force the country’s currency to weaken; and if you have invested in the country, then obviously the value of your investment drops,” said Andre Roux, co-head of emerging...

The East African Community is leading in regional integration and free movement of goods and people on the continent. A new report unveiled at the ongoing African Development Week meeting at Addis Ababa indicated the cross-border movements were easiest between Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. EAC's leadership in integration, which identified various matrices including roaming costs and volume of trade, is a major indicator towards achieving the dream of a unified Africa by 2063. "Deeper regional integration means larger markets and industrialisation and productivity as part of value chains," said Erastus Mwencha, the deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, adding: "It means talent mobility thanks to greater visa openness." Kenyan citizens, for instance, only need to produce their national identification documents to enter any of the countries in the bloc, while work permit requirements are minimal as the region works towards the dream of a common currency. A regional parliament made of 54 members, which has been sitting since November 2001, is charged with streamlining the respective country laws with the vision of the five-member community. Several firms have had their shares cross-listed at the various stock exchanges. Integration in the EAC was ranked ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc where Tanzania has a cross-membership. South Africa is the most developed economy in the trading bloc, and is naturally the biggest exporter into the 15-member community. Africa's largest bloc, the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad), which draws membership from 27 countries in the northern part...

By Marc Nkwame Arusha — AS the new Secretary General for the East African Community is set to report at the Secretariat this month, the East African Employers' Organization already has some tasks ready for him. "We want the new EAC Secretary General, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, to push the five governments of the member states in fast-tracking free movement of workers, persons and labour," stated the chairperson of the East African Employers' Organization (EAEO), Ms Rosemary Ssenabulya, who is also the Executive Director of Uganda Employers' Association. Ms Ssenabulya was delivering a joint statement from heads of employers' associations from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi who gathered here under their EAEO umbrella to discuss the implementation of the East African Community's Common Market Protocol, launched back in July 2010 but until now, many figure that the CMP remains a far-fetched theory. Free movement of people, capital and labour were among the things stipulated in the East African Common Market Protocol. However the EAC stated earlier that, free movement of people will only be viable once each member state issued machine-readable Identity Cards. "We are however happy that, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waivered work permit fees in their respective borders, which by itself is great achievement of the East African Community under the outgoing Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera," added the Executive Director of the Association of Tanzania Employees (ATE), Dr Aggrey Mlimuka, the Secretary General of EAEO. They were of view that, it is high time Tanzania and...

It is no secret that donors finance the lion’s share of activities by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat and the regional organization’s other organs and institutions, a fact that we are nauseatingly reminded at every opportunity. One such occasion was during the Fourth High-Level Dialogue of the EAC Partnership Fund held on March 25th in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The dialogue was attended by Heads of Diplomatic Missions accredited to the EAC and members of the Partnership Fund. Since many people in the region are no doubt impressed by the millions of dollars spent by donor nations on various projects in their own countries, they tend to appreciate this help and fail to see the bigger picture created by donor dependency. And it is something that the current EAC chair, President John Magufuli of Tanzania, should look into more closely. In fact, many analysts have doubted the value of the aid given to the Third World. It is aid that is designed to maintain the economic status quo: Ensuring that developing countries do not rise up to utilize their full potential, and that they remain satellites of Western economies. But first, back to the Partnership Fund. Now, this Fund has 11 contributing members made up of the usual list of Western donors: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the European Union and the United Kingdom. It also gives observer status for development partners who are considering starting contributing to the fund: Australia, Italy, Switzerland and Turkey....

TRADE barriers and poor infrastructure are preventing sugar producers in sub-Saharan Africa from accessing under-supplied regions on the continent as an imminent end to import quotas in the European Union compels them to find new markets. A preferential-access deal with the EU for African, Caribbean and Pacific sugar producers ends in September 2017, potentially depriving the farmers further access to a duty-free market. Exports to the EU account for a fifth of the sub-Saharan region’s current annual output of about 7.5 million metric tons, according to Cooperatieve Rabobank UA. While sub-Saharan Africa consumes more sugar than it produces, growers may struggle to plug this shortfall because insufficient infrastructure makes deliveries between regions difficult and import duties lift the cost of sales, said Lindsay Jolly, a senior economist at the International Sugar Organisation. “The first question is—do you have the infrastructure in place, those highways of trade throughout Africa?” Jolly said Thursday on the sidelines of a conference in Maputo, Mozambique. “The answer is you haven’t got those. The less competitive players just may have to produce less.” Consumption forecast Sub-Saharan Africa will consume 10.2 million tons of the sweetener in 2016, creating supply shortfall of about 2.4 million tons in the region, according to the International Sugar Organisation. Sales to the EU account for the vast majority of exports from Mauritius and Mozambique, and about half of those from Swaziland, Gareth Forber, head of sugar research at LMC International Ltd., said at the conference. While EU sugar production is expected...

Recycling at work GIKOMBA market, just north of Nairobi’s downtown, is a place to buy just about anything. At its entrance, where ragged minibuses splash their way through rutted red mud, stalls sell piles of pillows, plastic toys, cutlery and soap. Source: The Economist

Government and civil society officials have agreed to organise regular platforms where the Ministry of East African Community Affairs and civil society groups can meet to enhance a people-centered regional integration approach. This was recommended, yesterday, during the first such gathering in Kigali. The consultative forum, themed: ‘‘Engagement of the Rwandan civil society in the East African Community integration”, intended to, among others, introduce the local civil society fraternity to the EAC integration agenda and identify areas that require further awareness. During the meeting, the Minister for East African Community Affairs Amb. Valentine Rugwabiza, asked for the initiative to be formalised with meetings scheduled once in a year. Rugwabiza said: “But it should not simply be about meeting to talk only as it should also be a forum for accountability, so that we look at the progress of things we had agreed on earlier.” The purpose of the forum was to set appropriate mechanisms for continuous active involvement of the Rwanda Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in EAC integration efforts and thus be able to tap available opportunities. The forum explored ways to ensure people’s participation in the bloc’s integration agenda as directed by the 16th EAC Council of Ministers’ meeting. Dr Venuste Karambizi, an International Relations lecturer at Kigali Independent University, suggested that civil society should have a proper accountability system. “Regarding the integration agenda, we in the civil society are ready and are skilled. What the government can help us with in terms of regional integration is to communicate...

The government will not issue a blanket ban on the importation of second-hand clothes popularly known as mitumba. Industry and Enterprise Development Principal secretary Julius Koris said the government and the East African Community do not plan to ban the sale of mitumba without providing alternatives for consumers and traders. Korir told a national stakeholders' workshop on Thursday that the matter is sensitive and needs to be addressed seriously. The government plans to ban the importation of mitumba clothes in phases over the next three years. The plan is also being considered at the EAC level, with Uganda already crafting laws to stop mitumba imports. The PS said the industry needs interventions such as removing barriers and creating incentives for investors to make the trade more competitive, for competition with evolving markets. EAC states, Korir added, should develop an effective and sustainable implementation environment for policies formulated to address the issue. Tabled proposals, other than the ban, include raising the duty rates for finished clothes to above 50 per cent or a minimum specific duty of $10 (Sh1,013). Another option is setting up regional fall-back processing parks to produce clothes at cheaper rates for the domestic market. Source: The Star