Before South African President Jacob Zuma visited Kenya last week, expectations were high that a deal allowing freer travel would be struck. The expectations were dashed when President Zuma dithered, only pledging that matters immigration was a work in progress. Kenya's visa interests were not a completely lost cause as the joint communique captured South African "concessions" offering easier visa terms for elite categories of Kenyans. It, however, fell short of reciprocal balance given South Africans enjoy a visa-on-arrival regime while Kenyans endure steep hurdles in travelling to South Africa. The reason President Zuma gave for the equivocation is that terrorists and criminals would exploit the opportunity to gain entry into South Africa and wreak havoc there. In essence, law abiding Kenyans are collateral damage. This justification can be given benefit of doubt considering the reality of terrorists in Kenya. Incredulity can, however, be entertained. An important factor that might have impelled South Africa to prevaricate is that the country has policies and regulations focused on checking the influx of African economic refugees. Kenya is no exception. Allowing Kenyans no-holds-barred entry would have been received negatively by South African interest groups that have often expressed angst at other Africans, especially of lower classes. It would also have had a domino effect with other African countries pushing for similar deals. It is noteworthy that President Uhuru Kenyatta lobbied his counterpart on the visa issue at an open press briefing. It would appear that President Kenyatta was showing his being in sync...

Tanzanian President John Magufuli lately is reported insisting the cabinet for the speed up of the Central Railway construction project that is to begin this year. Magufuli noted during talks at the State House in Dar es Salaam his government entertains acting more and less of preaching. A statement released by the Presidential Directorate of Communications read, “We would like to see our development partners, particularly China which is the best friend to Tanzania to go with that speed.” The Central Railway Line is planned to connect Dar es Salaam with Mwanza, Kigoma as well as the neighboring countries of Rwanda and Burundi. The Magufuli government has sanctioned one trillion shillings for the construction project for this year’s budget and until now 32 contractors have applied for a tender. The line will cover the length of 200 kilometer from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. The president said he is looking ahead to start the project this financial year and wants to complete before he steps down. He further added the Central Railway line project is important for their country and also for other countries that depend the Dar es Salaam port. It would contribut to the nation’s economic growth, paving way to becoming industry-based economy country by 2025. Magufuli also pledged China would push for fast construction of the line and he vows to move at the speed of 200 km per hour. Source: SRJ News

IN SUMMARY Companies like Royal Dutch Shell, which has for over 10 years been holding exploration licences for blocks in Zanzibar, can now start exploration. Tanzania has passed a law that will see the Isles government independently award licences for offshore oil and gas exploration to multinationals. The passing of the Bill to establish the Zanzibar Petroleum Regulatory Authority automatically removes oil and gas from Union matters, allowing the two states to issue exploration licences independently. The move means that companies like Royal Dutch Shell, which has for over 10 years been holding exploration licences for blocks in Zanzibar, can now start exploration. The Petroleum Act 2015, which was passed by the Union government paved the way for oil and gas to be removed from Union issues. Section 2 (2) (b) of the Act allows the government of Zanzibar to conduct the search for the oil. “The Bill will pave the way for the extractive industries to become part of the national accounts to spur the economy to grow faster and increase its GDP base,” said John Ulanga, the country director of TradeMark Africa in Tanzania. Experts said that the biggest challenge for Zanzibar would be the lack of qualified personnel. Source: The East African

Comesa Secretary-General Sindiso Ngwenya. PHOTO | FILE  IN SUMMARY The Comesa market is currently dominated by the European Union and China. China commands a 12 per cent share of imports into Comesa countries, while the US trails in fifth position, with only five per cent of the total value of imports into Comesa. The United States has given a $77 million five-year grant to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa to help reduce cross-border risks to trade and to pave the way for increased foreign investment. The Comesa market is currently dominated by the European Union and China. The signing of the memorandum of understanding took place in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo at Comesa’s 36th intergovernmental committee meeting, ahead of the Heads of State Summit that will take place from October 18-19. Comesa Secretary-General Sindiso Ngwenya signed the deal on behalf of his organisation, while Eric Schultz, the US ambassador to Zambia, who also doubles as the special representative to Comesa, and USAid deputy director for Kenya and East Africa Candace Buzzard, signed on behalf of the US government and USAid. The funding will go towards strengthening regional trade, investments and agricultural development programmes. This funding will help Comesa’s regional programmes under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), such as Trading for Peace, Agriculture, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards, commodity trade in the bloc, gender, energy and climate change. Through this agreement, Comesa and USAid will work together to promote regional economic integration, reinforce institutional governance and accountability and...

Kenya wants the Common External Tariff on items like sugar, wheat, rice, leather and textiles revised to a level that East African Community members would be comfortable with and which would not be subject to exemptions. PHOTOS | FILE  IN SUMMARY Kenya is lobbying for strict enforcement of duties on sensitive products imported into the East African Community, saying frequent exemptions threaten the survival of local industries. “Kenya is striving to have the CET rates for sensitive items reviewed; the partner states are always requesting the Council of Ministers to grant them exemptions or stay of application,” Kenya’s Principal Secretary in charge of Trade Chris Kiptoo told The EastAfrican. Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are also working on their positions. A team of experts from the EAC is expected to review the proposals for each country and reach a common position before the revised CET takes effect on July 1, 2017. Kenya is lobbying for strict enforcement of duties on sensitive products imported into the East African Community, saying frequent exemptions threaten the survival of local industries. Trade officials said the country wants the Common External Tariff on items like sugar, wheat, rice, leather and textiles revised to a level that members would be comfortable with and which would not be subject to exemptions. “Kenya is striving to have the CET rates for sensitive items reviewed; the partner states are always requesting the Council of Ministers to grant them exemptions or stay of application,” Kenya’s Principal Secretary in charge of...

The number of regional trade agreements has almost quadrupled in the past 25 years, from 70 in 1990 to around nearly 280 today. The collapse of the Doha round of trade talks in Nairobi in December has deflected energy to regional trade agreements. These agreements are great in helping rejuvenate global trade, which slowed as the economic recovery tapered in recent years and the Chinese economy decelerated. Africa is well positioned to engage regional trade agreements. Signed in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, in June 2015, the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) brings the Common Market of Eastern and South Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) into the continent’s largest free-trade zone covering 26 countries from Egypt to South Africa. The agreement aims to fuel the continued growth of intra-regional trade on the continent, which has skyrocketed from $2.3 billion in 1994 to $36 billion in 2014. Intra-Africa regional trade still accounts for just 25 percent of total exports for the sub-Saharan region, according to the Brookings Institute. By comparison, European and Asian intra-regional exports are at 70 percent and 50 percent respectively. Sub-Saharan Africa still has a distance to go. Residual effect of Trans-Pacific Partnership on global trade The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement – once ratified – will bring together 12 economies in the Pacific Rim excluding China with the U.S. These countries account for 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and a third of its trade: U.S., Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. The pact aims to deepen economic ties between...

More needs to be done by the East African Community (EAC) for the region to achieve universal free movement of goods and people, according to Stephen Ruzibiza, the Private Sector Federation (PSF) chief executive officer. “We are promoting free movement of labour and services, but if some countries are still reluctant to implement what other partner states have agreed on over the past few years, then it’s far-fetched. Tanzania and Burundi have not yet scrapped work permit fees for regional citizens, which affects free movement of labour across the region,” he said. He was speaking in a telephone interview from Nairobi Kenya, where he was attending the inaugural East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday. The conference, which ended on Wednesday, attracted participants from the five EAC member countries. Reechoing a call by the participants urging the two countries to implement EAC Common Market protocol that was rectified in 2010, he said reluctance by Tanzania and Burundi to scrap work permit fees is against the spirit of integration. Ruzibiza said the fees and long procedures of acquiring work permits have made it hard for traders and professionals to operate in the two countries. He added that they “at times have to incur a lot of costs throughout the process.” According to media reports, the two countries retained the fees due to health, policy and security concerns. This stand, among others, prompted regional workers and employers’ associations to petition the regional assembly, EALA, last year calling for implementation...

EAC secretary general Amb Liberat Mfumukeko in Arusha, Tanzania, addresses the media on Monday /ANGWENYI GICHANA The East Africa Community secretariat aims to save more than US$6 million (Sh59.63 million) in the current financial year through the cost-cutting strategy it adopted earlier this year. EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko says the bloc has saved $588,760 in travel expenditure alone since the measures were adopted in May – around the same time he took over from Richard SezIbera on April 25. “Since we instituted several reforms in the EAC organs and institutions aimed at reducing costs in the EAC projects and programmes, the implementation of these reforms is going on very well, and already some positive results are being received,” Mfumukeko said. He told a press conference at the EAC headquarters in Arusha on Monday that “it is no longer business as usual”. The reforms focus on cutting wastage, containing and reducing frequency of travels where EAC officials should spend half of their working days in Arusha. Twenty-five per cent of the meetings are held via video conference facility. “We have also reduced the number of days for our meetings to a maximum of four,” the secretary general said, highlighting the achievements in the last five years and priority areas for the next five years. Mfumukeko said the EAC operations passed the European Union Fiduciary Risk Assessment. “The assessment on the secretariat’s operations in five pillars namely: internal control system, accounting systems, independent external audit, procurement and sub-delegation met the internationally...

Uganda’s High Commissioner and Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat Angelina Wapakhabulo (left), Kenya’s Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala (centre) and Belisa Kariza, Rwanda Development Board Chief Tourism Officer show solidarity during the opening of the East Africa Tourism Expo at KICC, Nairobi. [Photo: Elvis Ogina/Standard]Tanzania has dealt Kenya another blow by distancing itself from the common visa launched between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The common visa is meant to, among other things, enable the members states to jointly market their tourism as a single product. Tanzania also wants nothing to do with the joint marketing strategies pushed by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and will not participate in the East African tourism platform events being pushed for by the neighbours. The joint visa has been issued to 4,000 tourists who will be visiting the three countries, now dubbed ‘the coalition of the willing’. In a media briefing Wednesday, Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said Tanzania was wary of competition from Kenya. “Tourists who will be moving between the three countries that form the coalition will now be using a common visa that will be charged at $100 (Sh10,122) instead of $150 (Sh15,183) that each country charged before,” Mr Balala said. “The coalition of the willing has also agreed to have a common East Africa stand at the world Travel Market to be held in London on November 7. The stand has been dubbed ‘borderless East Africa’, but Tanzania will not be part of it,” he added. However, Balala asserted that if the...

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Another large ship recently docked at Dar port attracting much attention as people contemplated its size writes DAMAS MAKANGALE. “I would like to assure our fellow Tanzanians and customers that our port has the capacity to accommodate large ships without any trouble with the arrival of this ship it has opened up doors for other larger ships to anchor at our port,” Eng. Deusdedit Kakoko, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Director General said. Registered in Grenada, MV Hammonia (left) has the capacity to carry 4,256 containers and offloaded 483 containers at Dar before and loading 656 containers and sailing off to Thailand. Kakoko said that some few people were thinking that their port was not in such a capacity, but the fact is that their port is capacity is unique and stable and they will continues to receive ships as usual. He said that even when President John Magufuli paid a surprise visit to the not long ago,  there were seven large vessels docked. Eng. Kakoko said  Dar es Salaam port has a dock with the capacity to cater for such vessels at number 8, 9 and 10 piers. The Authority Chief Pilot Capt, Abdullah Mwingamno said the ship was the biggest of ships that have been entering the port of Dar es Salaam. Mwingamno said that at the beginning the harbour entrance was meant to be able to serve ships with a length of just 234 metres, but due to changes in technology and...