A few weeks ago, I had to travel to Kigali on an assignment. It is usually a fairly uneventful thing – present your passport at JKIA, go through immigration, and get on a flight that lasts slightly longer than an hour. This time, though, I decided to conduct a little experiment. We have been reporting for months now that East Africans (at least from the “coalition of the willing” countries of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) could travel to each others’ countries using only an ID card. I hadn’t actually seen this in action – except in the obligatory photo ops by presidents, so I decided that it would not be a bad idea to test rhetoric against practice. To my pleasant surprise, it actually worked flawlessly. True, when I first presented my identity card to the immigration officer at JKIA, it was like asking for an item that is rarely ordered on the menu. He handled it with aplomb, though. The process is a simple one – the officer fills out a Hati Safiri ya Jumuiya (Interstate Pass), which is a simple card that details your name, nationality and ID number. You then get it stamped at the back and off you go. You have to retain it until you are back home, but it easily is the most painless thing I have ever had to do when travelling out of Kenya. Now, all this time, I had my passport tucked away in my satchel, in case I was being...

It was indicated, at the recent 34th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of States and Governments Summit, that negotiations for the tripartite free trade agreement (FTA), with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC), are at an advanced stage. A timetable for the SADC-COMESA-EAC tripartite FTA, a regional market of 26 countries with a total population of almost 600m people and a total gross domestic product of over USD1 trillion, envisaged the first phase of tariff negotiations on allowing the free market access for goods to be completed by the end of this year, while a second phase would then tackle trade in services and other issues, for finalization of the total agreement in 2016. During his statement to the Summit, President of Malawi Peter Mutharika indicated that "negotiations for the tripartite FTA are at an advanced stage, paving the way for finalization in 2016. … The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit is scheduled for October 2014, at which we shall have the opportunity to review progress with the implementation of the tripartite program to date, and provide further guidance to this process. It is important that we keep the momentum in the tripartite negotiations because it is one of the key building blocks of achieving continental integration." SADC's Director of Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment, Boitumelo Gofhamodimo, is also reported to have confirmed that "we expect to conclude the [goods tariff] negotiations by end of the year. It is one arrangement which...

Rwanda has over the years welcomed thousands of enthusiastic international, regional and local visitors to her Volcanoes National Park magnetized by the endangered mountain gorilla. The Government of Rwanda, via the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in collaboration with various conservation partners comprising the business community, communities and local and international NGOs, has been actively protecting these species and their habitat. Conservation is high on the national agenda, not only for the protection of mountain gorillas and other keystone species, but also their habitats and ecosystems. This is in line with the Rwandan Government key development agendas whose key pillar is on tourism and other productive sectors. Every year the Rwandan Government holds the Kwita Izina – naming ceremony of Mountain Gorillas which is modeled on the centuries old tradition and culture of naming new born babies. Names attributed to the gorillas play a significant role in the on-going program of monitoring each individual gorilla in their families and habitat. The uniquely Rwandan event, was introduced in 2005 with the aim of creating awareness of conservation efforts of the endangered mountain gorilla. For three decades prior to the first official gorilla naming ceremony, the naming of newborn gorillas was carried out with little awareness amidst the public or the rangers and researchers that closely monitor these unique animals on a daily basis. The Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony has grown into an event of international acclaim with thousands of international, regional and domestic tourists taking part at the foot of the...