Priti Patel wants more "openness and accountability" with international aid Major multinational aid funding may be cut unless it provides better value for money, International Development Secretary Priti Patel has said. More than £4bn of UK aid goes to global organisations such as the World Bank. In an interview in Kenya with BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale, Ms Patel also said that she wanted to use the aid budget to help pave the way for trade deals. She was speaking on her first visit to Africa since she was appointed. Ms Patel witnessed what some of her department's £12bn budget is supporting on the ground. She saw humanitarian aid being delivered, via a payment card that gives Kenyan women £20 a month from the British taxpayer to buy the food they need to survive. Spending better and wasting less She said: "We have to make sure that our aid works in our national interest and also that it works for our taxpayers. Much more openness, much more transparency and much more accountability." She is about to publish a review of the work of big multinational aid organisations that spend money on behalf of the UK, and said she would cut off funding if they did not meet new performance targets by spending better and wasting less. Ms Patel was on her first visit to Africa as international development secretary"The government's approach is focused on ensuring that we drive taxpayer value - so when it comes to multilateral organisations, focus on...

Africa needs trade not aid. This has been the reverberating message from many African leaders, economists and business pioneers of late. At this September’s UN General Assembly, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama and Senegalese President Macky Sall addressed world leaders with this very sentiment. The emphasis on trade over aid is in part a backlash against the modest results of development aid. Africa has received over $1 trillion ininternational aid over the past 50 years, but this has been ineffective in combating poverty and spurring economic growth in a sustainable way. Moreover, aid inefficiencies are acutely heightened where there is a lack of strong political institutions, a common difficulty across the continent. In contrast, there is a proven link between openness to trade and economic performance, an approach that has taken centre stage in the trade policies of the EU, Africa’s second largest trading partner after China. Towards a reciprocal relationship The embodiment of the shift towards trade can be seen within the context of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between a number of African groupings (Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, East African Community, Southern African Development Community and West Africa) and the EU. Essentially, the EU wants to move towards a reciprocal trading relationship with the continent, in which African regional groups gain duty- and quota-free access to the EU market. In return, over time, participating African countries will have to liberalise just 83% of their markets, as sensitive products will be protected. For example, the Economic Community...

WASHINGTON: The collapse of free trade talks between Canada and the European Union is yet another sign of increasingly stiff resistance to economic globalization. Despite seven years of talks between Ottawa and Brussels, the CETA Treaty crashed into a wall Friday (Oct 21) after being rejected by the Belgian region of Wallonia, making it impossible for the European Union to approve the deal. That was an ominous sign for another ambitious treaty, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the EU, which also faces strident opposition on both sides of the Atlantic. And one huge deal already struck, the Trans Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries, is foundering because of the refusal so far of the US Congress to ratify it. And now, both candidates for the White House, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, say they do not support the treaty. It is a sharp reversal of a quarter-century since the fall of the Berlin Wall of support in the world's leading economies for freer trade and globalization. Now, the enthusiasm for breaking down borders appears to be fizzling out. "We are seeing the results of several decades of failures by political leaders to take the concerns over trade seriously," said Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. For many years accusations have mounted that the progressive breaking down of trade barriers and removal of import duties in advanced economies has caused deindustrialization and huge...

Lower commodities prices have had some far-reaching effects on African economies. For exporters, weaker revenue has damped growth. Consider Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and biggest oil producer. The country’s gross domestic product contracted 2.1 percent in the second quarter, following a 0.4 percent slump in the first. Adjusting to this new reality will take time for energy exporters. Most African economies, though, aren’t in the oil business. For them, lower fuel costs support growth and living standards. So fortunes are set to diverge across the continent. In fact, the narrative could change from “Africa Rising” to “Africa Tilting” as commodity exporters in West, Central, and Southern Africa struggle to find new sources of growth, while East African economies develop and integrate into a more robust—and potentially huge—regional market. From 2010 to 2014, economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa averaged 5.2 percent. After oil prices plunged in 2014, growth slowed to 3.4 percent in 2015. It’s likely to be weaker still in 2016, but the decline in aggregate terms largely reflects slowdowns in Nigeria, fellow oil exporter Angola, and South Africa. The three countries accounted for about 60 percent of sub-Saharan GDP in 2015 but less than 30 percent of its population. For Bloomberg Intelligence analysis and data on Africa. Deeper integration, better-functioning markets, and improved infrastructure could all bear fruit as the continent pursues other sources of growth. East Africa is leading the way. The African Development Bank, in its inaugural Africa Regional Integration Index Report, rated the East African Community—Burundi,...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is considering admitting Somalia and Tunisia into the bloc. “[The Summit] mandated the Bureau of Council to enter into negotiations with Tunisia and Somalia on terms and conditions of accession to the Comesa Treaty,” reads part of the communique after the bloc’s Summit held in the Antananarivo, Madagascar, on October 18-19. Comesa spokesman Mwangi Gakunga could not say how long these negotiations will take before a decision on the two countries’ application is reached, as this is determined by the bloc’s highest decision making body — the Heads of State Summit or Comesa Authority. “Upon receipt of the application for membership, the Authority may prescribe the conditions and such other conditions for admission which shall be communicated to the applying state. Article 3(3) of the Regulations provides that admission of membership shall be decided by the Authority,” the regulations state. In 2005, Tunisia applied for observer status to Comesa, but its application was neither discussed nor endorsed by the member states. In February, it renewed its push to formally join the bloc when it wrote to Comesa Secretary-General Sindiso Ngwenya. Mr Ngwenya said that under Article 1(4) of the Comesa Treaty, Tunisia was eligible for admission as it is “an immediate neighbour of a member state of Comesa…upon fulfilling conditions that may be determined by the Comesa Authority.” Source: The East African

Arusha — The process to establish four key institutions that will support the proposed East African Monetary Union (Eamu) has started, the East African Community (EAC) has said. The four institutions include the EAC Monetary Institute, the EAC Statistics Bureau, the EAC Financial Services Commission and the EAC Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission. Speaking here recently, the EAC secretary general, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, said the process to lay the foundation for establishment of a monetary union were on gear. "The dream is to have east Africans trade easily using any of their currencies and eventually have an East African common currency," he said in his maiden press conference recently. He said the four institutions envisaged were needed because the establishment of a strong Monetary Union will require a robust institutional framework to ensure compliance and safeguard the convergence process. The EA Monetary Protocol was signed in Kampala, Uganda in November 2013 during the EAC Heads of State Summit after negotiations which started in January 2011. Once in place, the Monetary Union, whose protocol has ever since been ratified by the five member states of the Community, would promote and sustain a zone of sound monetary policy and prudent fiscal policies to reinforce the monetary policies. The roadmap of the Eamu provides for its establishment over ten year period, time within which, the single currency shall be realized. At the same time, the exchange rate policy shall have a convergence phase and the conversion of exchange rates formulated. Mr Mfumukeko, who...

East Africa ranks as one of the world's most economically dynamic regions and offers “enormous potential” for investment by US companies, the US Chamber of Commerce said in a report issued on Tuesday. Growth rates in some of the East African Community (EAC) member states now rivals those of a few of the Asian countries that Wall Street has touted as “new emerging economies,” the report observes. Kenya's per capita GDP has already climbed past that of Bangladesh and Pakistan, notes the 35-page study titled “Building the Future: A Look at the Economic Potential of East Africa.” Trade with and within East Africa will be greatly facilitated by large-scale infrastructure projects now underway, the US Chamber says. It cites, for example, the standard gauge railway linking most of the region's landlocked states with Mombasa, and the Bagamoyo Port project in Tanzania, which “stands to be East Africa's largest port when completed.” While US trade with the region doubled between 2010 and 2015, it remains “marginal,” the report says. It notes that China and the European Union (EU) have much more robust trading relationships with East Africa. “Kenya, the United States’ leading trading partner in the region, imported 14 times as many goods from China than it did from the United States in 2014,” the Chamber points out. Similarly, it adds, the EU imported three times as many goods from Kenya than did the US in 2014. And the report warns that the European Union will likely become even more competitive...

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday officially commissioned the construction and expansion of part of the busy Mombasa Highway. The project road is located in Machakos County and runs in a south-easterly direction from Athi River to Kyumbu Centre, approximately 20kn away. The project is part of the Northern Corridor, which is the main transit route connecting the port of Mombasa to Nairobi and destinations further upcountry including the neighbouring countries of Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Eastern Congo. China Railway 21st Bureau Group Co won the Sh5.3 billion tender to expand the 20km Athi River to Machakos turn off into a dual carriageway. Work on the Athi River-Machakos Road is expected to be completed in 18 months. The project will be funded by the government and World Bank. ROAD EXPANSION The project will complement the ongoing dualling of James Githuru junction to Rironi and the upcoming expansion of JKIA to Likoni Road junction. The new carriageway will have a width of 7m and will carry two lanes. Shoulders will be 2m wide on the outer side and 1m wide on the side adjoining the existing carriageway. There will also be the construction of two large bridges over the Athi River, three grade separated interchanges (flyovers) to serve Athi River town, Daystar University and junction to Mua Hills. There will also be 8km of service roads constructed to provide low speed access to roadside properties in the built up area around Athi River town. The new carriageway will also include six...

By Zephania Ubwani Nairobi — Aflatoxin, a poisonous and cancer-causing chemicals produced by certain molds which grow in grains, is a barrier to food exports from Africa and threat to human health, according to a senior East African Community (EAC) official. This is mainly due to stringent regulations on Aflatoxin regulation, which limits how much produce enters the global market. "The entire African continent is susceptible to Aflatoxin contamination and that its high incidence continues to pose threat to human and animal health", the EAC deputy secretary general in charge of Economic and Social Sectors, Ms Jesca Eriyo, said in a speech availed to The Citizen. She gave the warning in her keynote address to the Second Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (Paca) Platform meeting currently underway in Entebbe, Uganda. She quoted latest report by experts, who estimate that losses from Aflatoxin in Africa have escalated to the tune of $450 million each year due to stringent standards by the European Union (EU) alone. Ms Eriyo further warned that the poisonous chemical was one of the challenges that the African continent need to address in order to achieve global developmental aspirations such as the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063. The toxic material is regularly found in improperly stored staple commodities such as cassava, chili peppers, corn, cotton seed, millet, peanuts, rice, sorghum, sunflower seeds, tree nuts, wheat, and a variety of spices. Other development goals for the continent that may be affected by the the toxic material include Sustainable...

In the good old days East African tour operators could sit back and know that eager visitors will come to sample the region’s spectacular offerings both for scenic beauty and the singular experience of seeing animals in the wild. Like clockwork, the regional industry and especially in Kenya and Tanzania, could expect good revenues in the high season and pick up some business in the low seasons by virtue of arranging special packages. Indeed the word ‘safari’ took on international prominence, because of East African tourism. To a large extent, the likes of Ernest Hemingway and such classic movies as the ‘African Queen’ also helped matters along. Today, that complacency and sense of smugness is foolhardy. The world has changed during the past half century and not always for better. International tourism is now a cut-throat industry and if East Africa wants a play an active part, it has to work for it. Economists call travel a “superior good”, meaning that as people’s incomes grow, they spend a greater proportion of it on travel. The welcome mat is not enough anymore.  You have to go abroad and aggressively flap it about to gain attention. These days you almost literally have to drag the tourists to come and it is not cheap. A television 30-second spot on a leading European, American or Japanese broadcaster can cost a couple of million dollars.  That is why when  tourism agencies ask for marketing funds, governments should not raise up their hands in despair. The...