Kenya and the European Union (EU) have exuded confidence that three East African countries yet to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) will do so during the next month’s head of state and government summit, unlocking the current stalemate. Kenya hopes her neighbours Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi will sign the trade protocol so that the region can enjoy duty and quota free market with EU. “We have hopes that the rest of the EAC countries yet to sign so that we can move together as a bloc,” said Dr Chris Kiptoo principal secretary international trade on the phone. Negotiations on the 14-year-old trade deal were concluded in 2015. EAC and EU  agreed to append signatures as well as ratify the same through their legislative structures. Principal Secretary for East African Affairs, Betty Maina last week, during a public policy breakfast meeting on strategies to enhance Kenya’s competitiveness, said  that Kenya will continue accessing market under the EU Market Regulations of 2007 until otherwise. Move together Alessandro Tonoli, Trade advisor European Union Delegation to Kenya, in a statement, recently expressed optimism that all the five countries will sign the EPAs to avoid being locked out of the EU market. Tonoli said that EAC Heads of State last year expressed willingness to move together as a bloc to continue enjoying the duty and quota-free market under the EU’s everything but arms initiative. The Heads of state in the EAC region will have their next Ordinary Summit in Arusha on April, which will...

The East African Community recorded a 16.4 per cent rise in international arrivals between September last year and January this year, according to the latest figures by Forward Keys, which monitors future travel patterns by analysing 16 million flight reservation transactions each day. The top 10 origin countries all retained their places from earlier in the year, including other African markets, which also saw growth. Visitors to Kenya were up 6.4 per cent, while in Uganda they went up by 11.7 per cent. The report paints a rosy picture, with forward bookings from February to July running 16.5 per cent ahead of the equivalent period last year. ForwardKeys, however, says long-haul connectivity could be improved for all EAC key airports. Source: Standard Media

This Year’s International Women Day was a remarkable one for the East African Community women as the crucial Gender Bill that make provision for gender equality, equity, protection and development in the Community was passed. The bill, dabbed, ‘EAC Gender Equality, Equity and Development Bill 2016’, whose mover is Hon Nancy Abisai was passed by East African Community Legislators sitting in Kigali, Rwanda on International Women Day. It is commendable that the region has recognised the immense contribution women make towards social, economic and political development of the Community. The importance of gender equality in the success of various development programmes instituted across the region cannot be underestimated. The bill, which prohibits all forms of exploitation, cruel, inhuman or degrading practices is a welcome move that if enacted and enforced by all the partner states will see an end to rampant exploitation of women and disadvantaged groups across the region. Though different partner states have made strides in gender equality, some are still lagging behind in crucial aspects of the gender bill. Though we are not where we would want to be, the number of women in decision making positions has risen drastically over the past few years in all partner states. Rwanda remains a tool of bench marking, not only for the region but also for the rest of the world; more than 60 per cent of key positions are held by women. Rwanda was ranked position one in this year’s global parliamentary gender equality. Tanzania made history by...

It remains unclear whether the East African Community Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2016 will ever be concluded as debate on it was on Wednesday adjourned by the regional Assembly now sitting in Kigali. Following a motion moved by Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, Dr Susan Kolimba, under the House’s rules of procedure, a key report on the Bill presented by the committee on agriculture, tourism and natural resources could also not be adopted. Dr Kolimba’s motion for adjournment –which may be moved without notice – under rule 30 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly was partly down to the fact that business leaders have requested for further consultations, while the Tanzanian government is yet to submit its views on the Bill. But MP Valerie Nyirahabineza (Rwanda), chair of the committee on agriculture, tourism and natural resources, remains optimistic that after they include more views from stakeholders during the next sitting in Arusha, in May, the Bill will be passed “without doubt.” “This is a Bill everyone wants, including members of the business community who have insisted on having further consultations. In May, we shall make amendments but ultimately the Bill will pass,” Nyirahabineza told The New Times after the day’s session. Earlier, during the session, Nyirahabineza presented a report in support of the Bill and reminded the Assembly that EAC Partner States are signatories to various international agreements on environment. “It should be noted that Polythene materials like plastic bags are a menace to the environment and...

Members states of the East African Community under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission have held a joint regional policy steering meeting that looks at implementing programmes and projects aimed at improving the livelihoods of  people living in the Lake Victoria basin. Several programmes  are currently running under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission which include population, health and environment, Lake Victoria Environment Project and Lake Victoria Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. The Permanent Secretaries in the line ministries of water and environment from the East African Community states signed an assessment report of the progress that has been made in the last 6 month on the implementation of programmes aimed at improving the welfare, restoring life, the environment and livelihood of the people living in and around the Lake Victoria basin The Joint Steering Committee emphasized the need to continue to improve  current projects at hand to help mitigate the challenges faced by communities living in and around the Lake Victoria basin The national project coordinator revealed that  Uganda  has  made progress in  waste water treatment, solid waste management and alternative livelihoods for the people living around the Lake Victoria basin The Lake Victoria Basin Commission is expected to sit again after 6 months in another East African Community State where they will again review the progress of the Four programmes under way.   Source: NTV News

The East African Legislative Assembly sitting in Kigali for the fifth session of the Third Assembly from March 6-16, used the International Women’s Day marked on March 8, to pass a Bill that will among other things protect women and children against gender-based violence, force EAC partner states to provide free primary and secondary school education for all, and protect the rights of civilians during war. “There is a need to make primary and secondary education compulsory, accessible, all inclusive and available for free to all considering the pupil-teacher ratios,” said the chairperson of the committee on general purposes Dr Odette Nyiramilimo. The general purpose committee handled consultations on the Bill with the partner states. If the region’s presidents assent to it, their governments will be required to provide universal free primary and secondary education. Most EAC partner states are already implementing a form of free primary education. The law will also make EAC partner states more accountable for the deaths and plunder that governments through their armed forces mete out when there is internal conflict. Human rights abuses “In circumstances where conflicts have occurred, and in times of armed and other conflicts, partner states must take such steps as are necessary to prevent and eliminate incidents of human rights abuses,” reads the Bill. This Bill will affect countries where security forces have orders to shoot and kill civilians. Civil society organisations are excited that the region can now take to task South Sudan and Burundi, where recent conflicts have...

Danish shipping giant Maersk is set to implement a new supply chain management technology that was partly developed by the IBM Research lab in East Africa. Maersk and IBM last week said they would begin using blockchain technology to manage and truck paper trail of shipping containers as they crisscross the oceans. Blockchain is best known as the technology that underpins the world’s most successful cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. The simplest way to understand blockchain is to view it as the next iteration of that mainstay of bookkeeping— the ledger. Blockchain digitises the ledger. It also distributes it. This means that a single data entry on the ledger is simultaneously stored in thousands, if not millions, of computers in a specific network. Due to the distributed nature of information storage, blockchain has particularly been touted as a technology that will increase transparency and reduce corruption in various transactions. Recently, companies in the logistics and financial sectors have been exploring the use of blockchain for applications beyond cryptocurrencies. “The solution is designed to help reduce fraud and errors, reduce time products spend in the transit and shipping process, improve inventory management and ultimately reduce waste and cost,” said IBM in a statement. The blockchain supply management system will be accessible to a network of shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, and customs authorities dealing with Maersk cargo. IBM says that each participant in the supply chain will be able to view the progress of goods in real time. Once data is entered into the...

On July 1, the East African Community will be marking 12 years of the implementation of the Customs Union Protocol. This Protocol, the first pillar of EAC integration, is defined under Article 75 of the Treaty establishing the EAC. It came into effect in 2005 having been signed by the three East African Heads of State on March 2, 2004 in Arusha, Tanzania. The Republic of Rwanda and Burundi joined the Customs Union in 2008 and started applying its instruments in July 2009. In the theory of economic integration, a Customs Union is supposed to be the third stage after a Preferential Trade Area and a Free Trade Area. However, the 1999 Treaty establishing the EAC provides that a Custom Union shall be the first stage in the process of economic integration. This is basically because even before the signing of the treaty, there were strong partnerships already between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. For instance on November 30, 1993 the trio had signed the Agreement for the Establishment of the Permanent Tripartite Commission for East African Co-operation. The Custom Union has allowed East Africa to operate as a free trade area where partner states have reduced or eliminated taxes on goods originating from within the community and have a Common External Tariff (CET) on goods imported from other countries. For the last 12 years, the CET has been based on three bands of 25 per cent for finished goods, 10 per cent for intermediate goods and 0 per cent for...

Kenya has delayed the planned April 3 rollout of an electronic passport to allow other East African Community (EAC) member countries to simultaneously launch the document in September. In a statement, Immigration Department Director Gordon Kihalangwa yesterday said Kenya and its EAC partners, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi will jointly launch the EAC e-passports on September 1. He had earlier indicated that Kenya was ready to launch e-passports on April 3 after having trained its staff and acquired the necessary e-passport machinery for the rollout at its Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa offices. The new e-passports will have a computer chip-embedded on one of the pages where a holder’s biometric information will be captured in a tamper-proof document. Only e-passport machine-readers owned by immigration departments across the world will access the read-only information. Besides the security features, e-passport holders’ travel itinerary will be automatically updated at every airport or border point they pass through in real time through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) online portal. The ICAO management system integrates all e-passport information into its global public key directory, making it impossible for anyone to use a stolen passport or forge one for use in inter-country travel. Roll-out of the e-passports with a 10- year validity period will see the paper-based (analogue) passports gradually phased out with East African countries, joining another 60 other countries across the world that use e-passports. The decision to launch an EAC e-passport started in 2004 when the Council of Ministers sanctioned formation...

Efforts aimed at deepening trade among African countries have been boosted by the launch of a new trade facilitation tool. Launched yesterday, the One-Stop Border Post Sourcebook is tipped to help governments improve cross-border and intra-regional trade across Africa and enhance the continent’s competitiveness. Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) chief executive officer, said the trade facilitation tool seeks to promote a co-ordinated and integrated approach towards easing trade, the movement of people, and consolidating security. Mayaki said: “One-stop border posts (OSBPs) are crucial in facilitating trade on the continent because they remove the need for travellers and goods to stop twice to undertake border crossing formalities. “It also calls for the application of joint controls to minimise routine activities and duplication.” “Therefore, it is envisaged that the OSBP project will help reduce the cost and time transporters take to ferry goods across borders,” he added. Mayaki was speaking at a regional domestication workshop for the OSBP sourcebook yesterday. The workshop, which started yesterday, ends on March 16. He said NEPAD is committed to supporting initiatives that promote trade on the continent, urging governments to and key stakeholders to fully utilise the sourcebook to help them determine the best way to develop OSBPs in each region. The development of the second edition of the sourcebook was supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), NEPAD, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)....