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...

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....

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...

Upon the full implementation of the prioritised projects, the region will have improved 7,600km of road surface, laid 4,000km of standard gauge railways, and increased the combined installed capacity of electrical power generation from 4245 MW to 6734 MW. EAC | INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT UGANDA - East African Community (EAC) partner states will maintain high budgetary allocations geared towards financing infrastructure development within their national borders. Works and transport minister, Monica Azuba Ntege, the chairperson of the EAC sectoral council of ministers for transport, communications and metereology, said the ongoing infrastructure development projects were meant to interlink the partner states and create a strong common market in the region with sights on the Tripartite Grand Free Trade Area. Ntege said the development of efficient, interlinked and modern infrastructure and energy systems will positively impact on trade, movement of persons, industrialisation, value chains, employment, investments that would prepare the regional economies for socio-economic take-off. She was speaking during the opening session of the Infrastructure roundtable on day one of the EAC Heads of State Joint Retreat on Infrastructure and Health Financing and Development at the Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala, Uganda. Ntege disclosed that in their previous three retreats focusing on infrastructure development and financing the Heads of State had prioritised for implementation a total of 72 projects, split into 286 sub-projects over a 10-year period, ending in 2025. “The projects span roads, railways, maritime ports, inland waterways, electrical power generation and transmission, and oil and gas infrastructure,” she said. The minister...

Busia, Uganda | PSCU | Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has said integration of the East African region will be achieved with the development of shared infrastructure and political commitment of regional leaders. He said the region must integrate to be a truly bigger market, and economically attractive to compete with other economic giants. “We want to compete with the economic giants of the world. If we have to compete with giants we have to be giants ourselves,” said President Kenyatta. President Kenyatta and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni were in Busia town Saturday to commission a one-stop border post to ease the movement of goods and people across the shared border. They addressed a public barasa on the Ugandan side of Busia town. Museveni spoke to Uganda’s commitment to integration, but, in reference to fishing disputes by Kenyan small-scale traders, called for radar and tech surveillance to grow fish stocks as well as tackle disputes. The customs facility, straddling the border comprises offices and space for immigration processes and verification; warehousing and cold rooms for the goods traded across the border; and facilities for expediting trade. The one-stop border facility is part of measures Kenyatta and his counterparts from other EAC countries have spearheaded to ease the movement of goods and people within the region. The One-stop border post concept combines two national border controls into one thereby reducing the time it takes to clear goods and people across the shared borders. This reduces costs and overall time it takes to...

President Museveni spoke East Africa to a lot of common sense in his written speech circulated ahead of the opening in Kampala on Thursday of the ‘EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health Financing and Development’. Very early on in the speech, the President puts things in perspective by declaring that “we owe it to ourselves and the future generations to ensure that this region has efficient, interlinked and interoperable infrastructure to enable our people to increase their prosperity through the exchange of goods and services”. Good stuff. But, as things tend to unfold, implementation gets in the way. I have never worked in the public sector and therefore have no close-up experience of how ideas get turned into actual projects that affect our lives. From the outside, I am always confused when the government announces a project only for basic issues (e.g. clean tendering, compensation/resettlement) to crop up to delay or fail the project altogether. I would expect that by the time the President, for example, announces that a road will be built in place X, all the groundwork has been done. In other words, the announcement would be more about when the project will actually start, how long it will take, how much it will cost, why it is needed, and possibly who the contractor is. When the government says it is expanding the Northern Bypass in Kampala over the next two years, one assumes that at that point all the funding has been got, compensation...

For a long time, there has been a desire to build a strong, integrated community in eastern Africa. Yet to fully integrate, political goodwill is essential, but has been lacking. Fear and mistrust of each other’s intentions have informed foreign policy in the region, thus hindering efforts that could lead to a strong regional bloc with the capacity to compete with other economic blocs like the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). Fear revolves around the risk of local populations in east African countries losing their jobs to foreigners, either because they would provide cheaper labour or they would be better qualified. In South Africa, for instance, a paucity of jobs, and the few available being taken up by expatriate workers, has led to xenophobic attacks. The idea of an regional community is not a new concept, having been embraced by the founding fathers of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in 1967. They believed more could be achieved by pulling together as a united people, but although the community took off to a good start, it broke up in 1977 because of mistrust. Kenya has demonstrated willingness to get the East African Community revived. On his inauguration day on November 28, 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta lay our borders open to citizens of the east African region. Sadly, diplomatic relations with Tanzania have not been at their best in the last few months. At some point, Tanzania banned Kenyan imports, impounded cattle that had...