The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has pledged billions of Pounds Sterling in lending and guarantees to African countries to help them address a chronic infrastructure backlog. “Africa’s infrastructure challenges not only inhibit its ability to trade with the rest of the world but are also a significant obstacle to intra-African trade, both of which are critical to the continent’s economic growth agenda,” said Emma Wade-Smith, the UK’s Trade Commissioner for Africa. “Finance is a critical component of infrastructure development and the combined risk appetite of £21.4bn we have across the region to facilitate projects is a clear sign of the UK’s belief in Africa’s long-term economic growth trajectory.” DIT in Africa has a presence in 21 countries across the continent, can enable the provision of these facilities through UK Export Finance (UKEF), the United Kingdom’s export credit agency, a part of DIT. Loans can be extended in the local currencies of 9 African countries for projects ranging from transportation, mining and general construction, though they must include at least 20% UK content and meet all other lending criteria. For example, UKEF has the ability to support infrastructure projects in South Africa (up to £4bn), Kenya (up to £1bn) and Nigeria (up to £750m). “Of course, projects must still meet all the lending requirements before we’re able to disburse any funding. But in terms of capacity, we have the ability to provide significant funding for infrastructure projects across Africa,” Wade-Smith added. Although Africa is the second-fastest urbanizing region...

The East African Community has embarked on a landmark work-load analysis and job evaluation exercise that could substantially alter the organizational structure of the Community. The 15-day exercise which is being conducted by experts from the six EAC partner States has been convened in line with the directive of the 35th Meeting of the Council of Ministers which was held on April 4, 2017 in Arusha, Tanzania which approved the terms of reference for work-load analysis and job evaluation. The experts are drawn from the Public Service Commissions as well Ministries of Public Service in the partner States. Speaking at the opening of the exercise, EAC Secretary General, Liberat Mfumukeko said that one of the expected outcomes of the exercise would be a new organizational structure for the Community. Mfumukeko said that the desired structure should be flexible and decentralized to allow speedy decision-making at all levels of the Community using fewer resources. “To explain the relationship between EAC and the Partner States, I wish to point out that the role of the Secretariat is to coordinate and not implement projects and programmes,” he added. The scope of the meeting which has been convened by the EAC Ad Hoc Service Commission includes: Undertaking a comprehensive analysis of all positions in the Organs and Institutions; Undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the proposed structures for EAC Organs and Institutions; Proposing a new Grading Structure for the Community, and; Reviewing and updating Job Descriptions for staff in the proposed structures. The meeting will...

BUSINESS MOMBASA - The region's commissioners of customs, together with the heads of standards bureaus, port authorities and the East African Community (EAC) have undertaken an evaluation mission at the ports of Mombasa and Dar-es[-Salaam. They met to review the performance of the Single Customs Territory and also discuss issues related to the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) procedures. The Monday meeting in Mombasa was chaired by Uganda’s commissioner for customs Dicksons Kateshumbwa and included a walk-through of procedures at Mombasa port to establish points on delays and recommend the way forward. It was attended by among others Kenneth Bagamuhunda, the director general customs and trade at the EAC, Kenya Ports Authority Officers and other customs commissioners and officials in the region. It was noted that despite the achievements registered under the Single Customs Territory in the region, there are still challenges that need to be sorted. Such challenges include reducing system connectivity issues, implementing fully the mutual recognition of clearing agents to access the ports and reducing delays in lifting cargo from the port. The commissioners also interfaced with Kenya Railways officials and discussed the recent directive on usage of THE SGR. They recommended the need for enhanced consultations within the region on issues of SGR cargo clearance to ensure buy-in and support within the region. The commissioners directed the EAC secretariat and the customs technical officials at the port to validate and update railway  clearance procedures earlier developed under the Single Customs Territory to incorporate SGR  operations and Nairobi ICD...

Arusha — The East African Community (EAC) climate unit which was closed two years ago, will soon be back in operation. The unit which was established to assist the member countries to adapt climate change and mitigate its effects was closed down on January 20th, 2016 after donors pull out. But the EAC deputy secretary general (Productive and Social Sectors), Christophe Bazivamo said on Friday, March 2, that it was now being revived. "Donors have agreed to support its operations and we expect it will be back in action soon", he told reporters at the sidelines of investor's roundtable on environment and natural resources management. The unit, launched in December 2011, was supported by the European Union Commission, the Norwegian government and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DfID). One of its mandates was to assist farmers in the region to implement climate smart agriculture to mitigate impacts of weather vagaries. The $ 20 million programme was also to be implemented in the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) blocs. Speaking during the forum which focused on the conservation of resources within the Lake Victoria basin, Mr Bazivamo called for increased private sector involvement in addressing challenges of climate change. "There has been less involvement of the private sector. Yet this can enable them do business and improve livelihood of the people", he said. He told participants from all over the region and development partners that droughts and water scarcity...

Talk of the region's potential is getting tired, finds Felicity Landon ‘Potential’ is a word that crops up pretty frequently when discussing developments in East Africa’s ports sector. Certainly there are a number of significant projects moving ahead to provide deeper water, expanded facilities and entirely new ports. But for this region, ‘potential’ stretches far beyond national borders. In the tussle to serve landlocked countries, a port’s success is as much about its hinterland links and IT infrastructure as it is about straightforward quays and cranes. As such, there is significant investment in rail, bridges and inland terminals and dry ports. “There is a lot of investment in Africa, particularly from the Chinese. I am sure the potential is there – but how many years have we been saying Africa has potential?” says Dean Davison of London-based Clipper Maritime. “Certain ports benefit from their geographical location but they can’t control other factors such as national economic developments, local population and levels of demand.” Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World’s chief executive, recently said: “Africa’s trade potential is enormous, evident in the 400% increase in trade between Africa and the rest of the world in the last two decades. Infrastructure development is more important than ever to maintain and increase this growth momentum.” Public-private partnerships (PPP) are the route to progress in Africa, he said – they are an effective model to fund projects, especially those on infrastructure, "while robust government policy and transparency are essential to its success". In all...

  A worker from Naivasha based at Van den Berg flower farm prepares roses for export to the European market ahead of Valentine. [Photo by Antony Gitonga/Standard] Last week’s EAC leaders’ meeting called for further negotiations on crucial trade treaty whose absence threatens the future of country’s exports to EU. Kenya will have to wait a little longer for a breakthrough in the crucial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) deal after regional leaders called for further negotiations with their European counterparts. It emerged yesterday last week’s 19th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State in Uganda failed to reach a compromise on the trade treaty after the matter was deferred. The leaders resolved that their host Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni - who as the Summit chairman late last year led a delegation of EAC leaders to Brussels to push for a new deal - returns to the negotiating table. “The summit President visited the EU and engaged with them and raised the issues and a response was given. Some of the issues still lacked satisfactory answers and the summit agreed that he should go back for a second visit,” said new East African and Northern Corridor Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya in Nairobi when he took over office from his predecessor Phyllis Kandie. During the September last year meeting, Museveni was mandated to engage with the EU to address concerns that some EAC partner States had on signing the EPA as a bloc. Kenya has put up a...

Last week, the government went back to the thorny South Sudan question in a profound way. Foreign Affairs ministry issued travel advisory on February 21, urging caution among Kenyans living in or intending to travel to the oil-rich parts of the landlocked state. The affected areas include Greater Upper Nile, particularly the states of Bieh, Latjoor, Akobo, Jonglei, Northern Liech and parts of Maiwut, Eastern Nile, Boma and Yei River. The advisory follows the marathon negotiation that led to the February 20 release of two Kenyan pilots held captive by South Sudanese rebels after their aircraft crash-landed in January. Was the raging conflict unforeseen? No. The advisory comes as an afterthought. It follows a series of missteps that that led to South Sudan being accepted into the community of East African states ahead of its time. In fact, Kenya — and its EAC neighbours — ought to have apologised to the many businesspeople who have found themselves in the trap because they thought the bloc’s organs had properly vetted South Sudan for investments. The admission into the EAC bloc was a controversial one. It came as Kenyan clearing and forwarding agents were contesting Juba’s decision to appoint Panda Clearing and Forwarding Company as sole agent for homebound imports. Kenyan agents saw in the decision an attempt to deny them business in a shared customs territory but it also betrayed Juba’s inability manage its revenues in a shared customs territory. At the time of negotiating Juba’s admission, President Uhuru Kenyatta chaired...

NAIROBI, Kenya-- More than 2.5 billion people around the world, many of them in Africa, lack formal identification that enables them access to financial and government services, this is according to the United Nations and the ID2020 project. What’s more, less than 10% of adults in low and middle-income countries are on file in public credit registries. The result is that millions of people in East Africa are paying punitive interest rates for credit or are frozen out of access to financial services. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region charge their borrowers notoriously high interest rates, often up to 30% per year.  This is partly because these lenders face a higher risk of loan defaults than mainstream banks due to a lack of borrower data to support lending decisions. MFIs in frontier markets have traditionally needed to make lending decisions without access to the sort of customer data and documentation commercial banks take for granted: credit scores, identification documents such as passports or government ID cards, bank statements, lending history and collateral. Fintech providers, financial inclusion companies and digital finance applications are filling this information gap with alternative credit data. Credit scoring applications like Tala in East Africa, for example, collect masses of data about phone owners and use these data points to produce accurate credit scores. This alternative credit data could help the credit officers at microfinance banks (MFBs) and MFIs who make lending decisions to make more accurate predictions about loan performance. This could, in turn, help improve collection...

The commitment by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Tanzanian counterpart, Mr John Pombe Magufuli, to have trade and bilateral issues between the two countries resolved is an important step towards enhancing the free movement of goods and services in the East African Community (EAC). Even though the presidents described the recent cross-border hostilities as small differences, traders and investors have been worried about their future stake in the regional market. Resolving the dispute, which restricted the movement of goods, livestock and people across the common border, is critical to deepening trade and exchange among the six EAC countries. Kenya and Tanzania, being the two largest economies, should ideally be driving the EAC integration that includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. FOOD SECURITY Kenya and Tanzania need each other in many key areas. One is food security — which is on President Kenyatta’s ‘Big Four’ agenda to transform the economy in the next five years. Kenya is a food deficit country, as 80 per cent of its land is arid and semi-arid and frequent, prolonged droughts, have increased its dependency on food imports. Tanzania is better endowed, with large tracts of arable land and a fairly good weather. It is least affected by the recurrent Horn of Africa drought that mainly hits Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia. The latest Famine Early Warning System (Fews) network report shows Tanzania has minimal food challenges — except for areas occupied by refugees on the Burundi border. FOOD PRODUCTION Food production data shows...

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...