Malawi Minister for Energy Aggrey Masi said that his country was facing serious power supply, revealing it could generate a mere 140MW, hardly sufficient to meet local needs. “The situation is bad … we need an immediate solution … and we hope that Tanzania could help us address the situation,” noted the minister. Mr Masi affirmed that the country’s waterfalls were the only source of power production, but even that had been severely curtailed with adverse climate change effects. According to Mr Masi, Malawi government had now decided to seek alternative power sources, including natural gas, although even that was a scarce resource internally, making joint efforts with neighbouring Tanzania its best next course of action. An investor in natural gas had since been identified, the minister says, with plans to install power plants at Kalonga along the common border with Tanzania. On his side, Dr Kalemani said the matter would be discussed ‘with keen interest’ after Tanzania’s own experts ‘satisfy themselves’ over feasibility of such investment. He insisted that before getting into such discussions, the experts should take account of the country’s own natural gas resources currently available; energy policy requirements, and how the resources could be transported to Kalonga. Dr Kalemani therefore advised the Malawian delegation to put their plan into written documents as well as officially writing the request and present it through Tanzanian government procedures, for further discussions between the two governments. Coming to Songwe issue, the two parties agreed that the valley’s operating commission whose...

Dar es Salaam — Malawi has topped the growth of cargo transit at the Port of Dar es Salaam over the last four years, Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) reports show. The TPA Performance report shows that during the period of four years starting in 2013 to 2017, the traffic cargo transit to and from Malawi grew at an average of 19.3 per cent. "This positive growth rate was due to political stability and good business relations between Tanzania and Malawi," the Port of Dar es Salaam manager, Mr Freddy Liundi, said during a meeting with members of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) yesterday. Figures also show that Malawi was followed by Rwanda whose transit traffic goods through the Dar port grew at an average of 11 per cent. Mr Liundi said the adoption of the East African single customs territory and establishment of TPA liaison office in Kigali are the main factors stimulating the growth of cargo transit to and from Rwanda. "Rwandan importers and exporters no longer need to travel to Dar es Salaam for clearance of their cargoes because we have offices in Kigali," he said. He added: "Political will between President Kagame (Paul) and Dr Magufuli (John) to stimulate business and investments between Rwanda and Tanzania has so far made a huge contribution to the rise of cargo volume." According to the report, Burundi came in third as its transit cargo traffic through the Dar port was growing at an average rate of 4.4 per cent...

THE East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) yesterday hailed the efficiency at the Dar es Salaam port, but were also concerned that too much of that cargo was hauled on roads instead of the relatively railway lines. The EALA legislators who are currently visiting public facilities, said partner states should find means to finance construction of modern railways to facilitate cheaper cargo haulage. They called for concerted efforts when they toured the Dar es Salaam Port during which acting Port Manager, Mr Freddy Liundi informed them that 99 per cent of cargo that passed through the harbour was still transported by road. Led by their team leader, Ms Muhia Wanjiku, the legislators said Community partner states should work more closely to ensure the region was connected by modern railways. "Rail transport is very cost effective in ferrying goods over long distances ... it also helps ease traffic, save road destruction and reduces end-user costs," Ms Wanjiku said. Acting Port Manager (Mr Liundi) told the visiting delegation that Tanzania was already building a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) linking Dar es Salaam and Mwanza regions. He said plans were also on hand to link Dar es Salaam Port with Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda with SGR, a move that would expedite the transportation of cargo to the landlocked EA partner states.He also informed the EALA lawmakers that the port authorities were constructing a Dry Port at Kwala area in the Coast region to ease congestion at Dar es Salaam port. Source: All Africa

Environment Principal Secretary Charles Sunkuli has said collaboration between East African Community members would help eliminate plastic bags. "During a meeting of Environment ministers in Arusha last week, we agreed that cooperation is needed if we are to eliminate the menace," Mr Sunkuli told the Nation on the side-lines of the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook forum at Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa that ended Tuesday. The PS said the ban in Kenya had seen an 80 per cent drop in the use of the bags. "The environment is no longer filled with the pollutants," he added. Mr Sunkuli said ministry officials would appear in Parliament to explain the ban, adding that jobs had been created since August 2017 when the law came into effect. PETITION AT HIGH COURT "Jobs for women and youth involved in manufacturing of non-plastic materials like sisal and papyrus have been created. Others are making gunny bags and biodegradable and fibre bags," he said. Asked about companies still manufacturing plastic bags, Mr Sunkuli said he was not aware of any. In Mombasa, County National Environment Management Authority director Stephen Wambua and inspectorate chief Mohammed Amir have been conducting crackdowns on businesses flouting the law, particularly at Kongowea market. They said since the ban on plastic bags took effect, the tourism city had become "aesthetically clean". "We are working with Nema to identify sources of the flat bags," Mr Amir said. But the ban is yet to take effect in grocery markets. In August 2017, the...

JOHANNESBURG - The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) has boosted US trade with Africa, which rose 15.8percent to $338.5billion (R4.04trillion) in the past year. Briefing the media from Washington DC yesterday, Harry Sullivan, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs acting director for economic and regional affairs, said the exponential growth was as a result of trade conducted under Agoa, a legislation allowing qualifying sub-Saharan African countries to export certain products to the US duty free. Sullivan said African exports to the US rose 24percent to more than $24bn, with agricultural products accounting for $2.7bn in 2017. Madagascar’s garments exports to the US rose 57percent to $152bn and Ethiopia’s total exports accounted for $92bn. The US government, which was forced into a PR exercise recently, when Trump characterised African states as “shithole countries”, said it would continue to work with Africa to reduce impediments to trade and investment - and encourage intra-trading among the continent. Sullivan identified the East Africa community as needing more focus in terms of reducing time and costs associated with transporting goods. “These are really important,” he said, adding that many of the barriers keeping African countries from doing business with each other would be dealt with. He noted that Africa lagged behind the rest of the world in terms of intra-trading, and added: “We are supporting regional immigration. (The US will) help African economies to develop regional value chain to spike global markets.” They wanted to catapult Africa into the lucrative global...

This comes after the completion of the standard gauge railway by the Kenyan government from Mombasa to Nairobi. Kenya ports authority has opened its doors to Ugandan businessmen to begin picking their goods from Nairobi instead of Mombasa. This comes after the completion of the standard gauge railway by the Kenyan government from Mombasa to Nairobi. This was revealed by The Managing Director of Kenya Ports Authority Catherine Mthuri during a meeting with lawmakers of the East African legislative assembely at the port of Mombasa. Source: NTV

The East African Legislative Assembly has called for closer co-operation between Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports to hasten importation and exportation of goods. The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has constituted two teams to look at the workings of the region’s transport corridors including ports. The Northern Corridor team, led by Mathias Kasamba, will cover the Mombasa port, the Kenya Revenue Authority and Holili-Taveta, Namanga and Malaba borders. “Much as the Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports serve the East African Community, there are areas where they can co-operate and hasten importation and exportation of goods,” said Mr Kasamba. EALA is seeking to develop policies that will among others increase resource allocation for the expansion of the Port of Mombasa to further improve efficiency at the port. In September 2017, Kenya ports Authority(KPA) announced that it had secured a Sh35 billion loan from the Japanese government for the construction of the second phase of the second container terminal at Mombasa port aimed at decongesting the port. “We already have the Sh35 billion financing from the Japanese government. We are now in the tendering process but construction must commence by January 2018,” said Ms Mturi-Wairi at the time. The biggest port in East Africa and the region’s trade gateway, Mombasa handles imports of fuel and consumer goods and exports of tea and coffee from landlocked neighbours such as Uganda and South Sudan and its traffic flows serve as a barometer of economic activity in the region. EALA is also keen...

Zanzibar — MEMBER states within the East African Community now wish to establish National Kiswahili Councils within their respective countries to show commitment in promoting the language in the region. The call was made here yesterday by Prof Kenneth Inyani Simala, Executive Secretary, East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) during a meeting with team of the East African Legislatives Assembly (EALA) delegation on 'the on-spot assessment of institutions, installations and facilities of the EAC on the central corridor.' "Despite financial challenges facing the Commission, we have been playing our part well, advising the governments on how we should move on. It is unfortunate that there is slowness in implementation," Prof Simala said here yesterday at the Commission offices. "It is only Tanzania which has the Kiswahili Council. I urge other member states to do the same and implement other agreed plans," the Executive Secretary said as he also listed some challenges facing the commission. The team of EALA delegation led by Hon Wanjiku Muhia from Kenya heard Prof talk about weakness in legislation, insufficient budget allocation, under staffing, and last year's attempted theft of the commission's funds from its account (he did not release details at the open meeting). He said that after raising voice including reporting to the police about the missing money from the Commission's account, the amount was returned, "But we need to know who had taken the money and why?" Prof Simala said he has visited Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya to see the pace of building...

In 2016, the African Union (AU) announced plans to introduce a new African Union passport that would travel across the continent much easier. “The scene seems to be set to realize the dream of visa-free travel for African citizens within their own continent by 2020,” the AU said in a statement announcing the launch. However, in 2018, crossing borders remains a difficult process for the vast majority of Africans. Even now, African citizens on average need a visa to travel to more than 50% of nations across the continent. This makes travelling in Africa significantly easier for Americans, Brits and various other nationalities than it does for the majority of Africans. It’s not only African citizens that feel the constraints of travel difficulties either. Business travel is a painful process between African countries and the impact on trade between the continent’s nations is undeniable. So why are Africans still waiting for visa-free travel? Progress is being made The visa-free travel dream in Africa is taking longer than some African union optimists might have hoped but true progress is being made. In November last year, six nations – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo – announced visa-free movement for citizens among their nations under the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). Meanwhile, Kenya became the latest country to relax visa requirements from citizens from African nations, who no longer need to get a visa prior to their arrival. According to the African Development Bank, which monitors visa openness...

Arusha — Performance of the recently established one stop border posts (OSBPs) in East Africa will come under scrutiny during an on the spot assessment by the regional lawmakers. Fresh from the recent session in Kampala, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) members this week began a mission to assess the progress of the regional institutions including OSBPs. The jointly operated and shared facilities on the visit schedule include the famous Namanga and Holili on the Tanzania/Kenya border as well as Malaba on the border between Kenya and Uganda. Others are Katuna/Gatuna on the Uganda/Rwanda borderline, Kabanga/Kobero (Tanzania and Burundi) and the Rusumo OSBP along River Kagera that separates Tanzania and Rwanda. "The on-spot assessment commenced yesterday (Monday) and runs up to February 23rd", said Bobi Odiko, the spokesperson for Eala, adding that the visit will cover other infrastructure projects. One of the two groups will inspect projects along the northern corridor; Mombasa through Nairobi and Kampala to Kigali while another will do the same on the central corridor; Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura. OSBPs which are being established along the key routes at the borders of the East African Community (EAC) member states to lessen time in exiting one country and entering another have come under scrutiny for some time especially from the regional MPs. For instance, an on the spot assessment carried out in 2015 by Eala members found out that some of them can turn into 'white elephants' due to unwarranted delays to complete the basic structures...