East African Community (EAC) partner states that are yet to sign the EU-EAC economic partnership agreement (EPA) are not in position to do so pending clarification of issues they have identified in the draft agreement, the regional bloc has said. This was noted in a statement issued after yesterday’s 18th ordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State, held under the theme: “Towards sustainable growth and development of the Community” in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. “It was however agreed that due to this action Kenya should not be disadvantaged since she has already signed the agreement,” the communiqué reads in part. In September last year, trade ministers of Rwanda and Kenya signed the deal at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Last year, the East African Business Council (EABC) advised the partner states to sign the deal quickly since failure to meet the EU deadline for ratification (which has since passed) could see EAC exports to EU attract import duty, especially for Kenya, the region’s largest economy. Whereas Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania have an option to rely on the Everything But Arms (EBA) trade arrangement under which they can still enjoy duty-free market access to the EU, Kenya does not have the same privilege as its economy is considered to be more advanced than the others. Kenya sells some 30 per cent of its exports to the EU. At the summit, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda assumed the bloc’s leadership that’s held on rotational basis and was mandated to...

The East African Community (EAC) leaders have directed partner states’ ministers in charge of EAC affairs to resolve long-standing unresolved non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and report to the next summit. The directive was made at the EAC Heads of State Summit on Saturday in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. It comes after the Council of Ministers had also called for an end to a host of long-standing unresolved NTBs hindering trade in the region. “The heads of state noted with concern the declining intra-EAC trade and directed the Council to resolve the long-outstanding non-tariff barriers and report to the 19th summit,” reads part of a joint communique issued after the summit. Meeting before the summit, the central decision-making and governing organ of the regional bloc raised concerns that at least 19 non-tariff barriers remain unresolved as reported by a monitoring tool that was put in place. The ministers specifically raised concern over four longstanding NTBs whose solution, they said, requires policy guidance. They include the restriction by Uganda on beef and beef products from Kenya, since 1996. Others are requirement by Tanzania that cigarettes manufactured in Kenya and exported to Tanzania should have a 75 percent local content, and requirement by the Tanzania Foods and Drugs Authority (TFDA) that companies exporting to Tanzania should register, re-label and retest goods certified by other partner states. This trade barrier has existed since 2003. Raymond Murenzi, director-general of the Rwanda Standards Board (RSB), told The New Times that the issues concerning the TFDA are “very serious” as...

The country’s newly-elected representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have pledged to take the region’s integration agenda to the next level when they begin their duties next month. Rwanda’s new team of nine for the Fourth EALA was elected by both Chambers of Parliament yesterday and will be sworn in on June 5 together with their counterparts from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan and Tanzania. MP Odda Gasinzigwa, a former minister for gender and family promotion, said: “I will not let my country and the region down. I will work with my colleagues to heighten the integration agenda of the East African Community.” Gasinzigwa was first elected to the regional Assembly last October and yesterday won re-election for another five years. Among the new entrants at the regional Assembly is Fatuma Ndangiza. Despite being a first time legislator at EALA, she is no stranger to East African Community (EAC) affairs since she, among others, previously headed Rwanda’s team on an EAC experts verification committee set up to work on the introduction of South Sudan into the EAC. Ndagiza says she is happy to take on her new duties. “It is another responsibility I have been given and I wish to assure Rwandans that they will be well represented. It is clear that the Community has achieved a lot but wherever there are obstacles, we will work together to remove them. “Under the Common Market Protocol, for example, we will collaborate to ensure that agreements already signed are implemented...

Arusha, Tanzania | JUMUIYA| The 18th Ordinary East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit has been set for May 20, 2017, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Top on the agenda is the consideration of EU-EAC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and Sustainable Financing Mechanism for the Community. The Summit will also consider the status of the EAC Political Federation, the appointment of a Deputy Secretary General from the Tanzania, the appointment of a Judge from South Sudan to the First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice. The Summit will also receive a report on the roadmap for the accelerated integration of South Sudan into the EAC, and consider progress report on the implementation framework for the EAC Institutional Review. Also on the agenda are: a progress report on the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC; a report on the modalities for promotion of motor vehicle assembly in the region and to reduce the importation of used motor vehicles from outside the Community, and; a report on the review on the textile and leather sector with a view to phasing out importation of used textiles and footwear. The Summit will consider assenting to Bills passed by the East African Legislative Assembly and will also present awards to the winners of the EAC Students Essay, 2016. The Summit will also declare the transformation of the EAC into a Common Higher Education Area. Source: The Independent

“Trade has been growing over the past years save for ‘just’ last year … the removal of non-tariff barriers is among issues to be resolved,” he explained. Dr Mahiga was speaking during the 34th EAC Council of Ministers meeting held yesterday ahead of the 18th EAC Heads of State Summit scheduled for tomorrow in Dar es Salaam. The minister noted, for instance, that other countries in the regional bloc had raised concerns on existence of Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA), complaining that the two entities were subjecting traders to double inspection of goods. “They look at the existence of the two institutions as a form of non-tariff barriers to trade … so these are among issues to be sorted out,” he stated. Earlier during the session, Uganda’s third deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Affairs, Mr Kirunda Kivejinja, urged countries in the bloc to focus on how to fast-track the integration rather than dwell on minor issues. “Uganda and Tanzania could become the food basket of the EAC given their vast arable land but you will hear people discussing trivial issues like how many Tanzanians, Kenyans or Rwandese are employed at the secretariat. Source: Daily News

East Africa has developed something of a reputation for gender equality in politics over the years. Rwanda has a higher percentage of women in parliament than any other country in the world while Burundi, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda are also among the highest ranking nations for female political figures (top 31 of 130 world parliaments) However, the latest East African Community Gender Barometer report by EASSI suggests those numbers don’t paint the full picture of gender equality in the region’s political environment. The study finds that, despite women sitting in many parliaments seats, they generally lack the same political influence enjoyed by their male peers. According to the group responsible for the study, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are no different from other countries in the region when it comes to handing political power to women. Female politicians lack power in East Africa Rwanda and Bolivia are the only two countries in the world where female politicians outnumber men. Rwanda tops the list where 61.3% of the country’s members of parliament are female (source: ipu.org). Gender equality was a key part of Paul Kagame’s strategy for rebuilding Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. More than two decades later, Rwanda is the shining example of gender equality in politics, but it seems the stats might not tell the whole story. The latest EAC Gender Borameter report suggests these numbers don’t always translate into political influence for female politicians in East Africa. According to Dr Josephine Ahikire, the Dean at the School of Women and Gender Studies who designed the...

Have you ever considered how competitive a country would be if donkeys and camels were the primary mode of transport for its cross-border trade? Over long distances, a donkey can trot at a leisurely 9 km/hour but it can notch up a top speed of 43 km/hour. That is approximately how efficient trade would have been for our forefathers in Africa’s ancient trading kingdoms around Timbuktu and similar cities. It took a trade caravan 40 days to cross the Sahara Desert in those medieval times. Fast forward to the twenty-first century and you would think that things must be totally different and that Africa would have considerably accelerated. Not quite, when you consider that the estimated effective speed of road transport within the Southern African Development Community, for example, is between 6 km/hour and 12 km/hour.[1] The road infrastructure has substantially improved since the medieval era and trucks can move as fast as anywhere else in the world. But when drivers have to be stopped at numerous checkpoints and are forced to spend days at borders, the average speed of an entire journey reduces to donkey pace. It is therefore unsurprising that Africa faces the largest trade costs of any region in the world. And many of the challenges are man-made. Granted, geographic constraints, such as having more landlocked countries (16) than any other region in the world, put Africa at a disadvantage. But such geographic barriers have not prevented Switzerland or Austria from participating effectively in international trade. In...

Dar es Salaam — Tanzania will this Saturday host East African Community (EAC) leaders for the much-awaited regional bloc’s Heads of State Summit. So much is at stake ahead of the high-profile meeting that was thrice postponed over the past few months at the request of the hosts, Burundi and Kenya. Apparently, as the leaders finally meet in Dar es Salaam, the main issue of interest will be what direction to take for the Community that has of late been dogged by fresh cracks, and a financial crisis, which derailed the implementation of key projects. Granted, it has been a rough year for the EAC. Member states are still entangled in the confusion that was brought by the tricky trade deal with the European Union – with Kenya and Rwanda on one side pushing for the ratifying of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and Tanzania leading a splinter group that is against the pact. Last September, the EAC presidents met in the wake of Tanzania’s stiff opposition to the deal. It was during the meeting that the leaders decided to give technocrats more room for consultations on EPAs and to review their position in January. But there is no sign yet that member states will reach common ground. Kenya has, since 2007 been pushing for the deal to be concluded with speed. Being the only developing state in EAC (the rest are classified as Least Developed Countries that enjoy duty-free trade with EU without reciprocating), Kenya has had to lobby...

Arusha — East African Community (EAC) partner states are divided on the proposed financing mechanisms to bail out the cash-strapped regional body. While the founding members, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, want to maintain the existing equal contribution arrangement, Burundi and Rwanda prefer differentiated contribution. A guidance on the matter will be sought during the 18th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State scheduled to take place in Dar es Salaam on Saturday. Sustainable financing mechanism for the EAC will be among the key items on the agenda, but a report seen by The Citizen indicates that the partner states are not agreed on the proposed alternatives. One of them is to raise funds for the Community’s projects and programmes is to slap a 0.7 per cent levy on the value of dutiable imports from outside the bloc. The percentage should be reviewed after every five years by the Council of Ministers which is the policy organ of the Community and the most supreme after the leaders’s Summit. Hybrid option The other mechanism recommended is a hybrid option which will use various parameters for each country. It is favoured as a means to promote equity and fairness. An alternative financing mechanism for the EAC has been on the cards for years and has been proposed to increase the budget of the rapidly expanding Community whose institutions have lately increased. The option also aims to overcome the cash woes facing the regional body due to dwindling financial support from donors and delayed...

Manufacturers want East African Community member states to fast-track harmonisation of taxation policies to facilitate free cross-border trade. Kenya Association of Manufacturers chief executive Phyllis Wakiaga said yesterday this will support growth of industry which faces stiff competition from cheaper imports. “This year, the common external tariff is being reviewed,” she said. “(The policymakers are) are looking to review the (import) duty values that can encourage local production and improve domestic trade. Hopefully by December we will have this ready.” The review, EAC Affairs PS Betty Maina said in February, is at amending rules used in classifying goods entering into the five-nation bloc with the aim of supporting growth of the industry, which is largely still at infancy. Wakiaga singled out slow harmonisation of standardisation certificates and VAT as major hurdles to free trade within the EAC bloc. “So far we have addressed over 150 non-tariff barriers but what we are trying to ensure is how we can sustainably avoid blocking trade within the East African Community,” she said. Data collated by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that manufacturing contributed 9.2 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product down from 9.5 per cent during the previous year. KNBS data shows that manufacturing sector contribution the gross domestic product has stagnated at around 10 per cent in the last 10 years. The sector faces such challenges as illicit trade, high power costs, congested industrial zones, high labour input costs, increased overall production costs and a huge import bill....