Africa, it is often said, is a continent that leapfrogs various intermediary stages of technology. From fixed to mobile telephony, Africa leapfrogged the usual phases of technological advancement. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, that on a global level, the East African Community is one of few regional blocs that have scrapped mobile roaming charges. And this is just the beginning. Introduced in October 2014, the One Network Area aims to harmonise tariffs on mobile voice calls, SMS and data transmission within the EAC. Today, roaming charges between Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda have been removed, making all mobile calls between the three countries local. This has led to a minimum 400 per cent increase in the volume of calls — a direct benefit to EAC citizens and African businesses operating across the region’s borders. Previously, making calls across the EAC was more expensive than calling Europe, America or Asia. The second phase of the ONA initiative is underway, with telecom operators revising SMS and data charges downwards. Rwanda began this process in August 2015, and the idea is to have a truly integrated regional bloc with all mobile telephony barriers removed. Compare this with older and more advanced regional blocs in the West or in Asia. The European Union for example, only recently voted new rules that will scrap mobile roaming charges — a reality that will happen in 2017. This has taken the EU almost a decade of negotiations and an interim cap on roaming charges is...

Step up. These two words uttered by Jennifer Mwijukye, chief executive officer and founder Unifreight Group, the keynote speaker, were both the conviction and inspiration that the women gathered at the 2016 MTN Women in Business awards dinner needed. “CEOs who are seated in the office can no longer sustain their businesses. You must go out there. Think beyond profits and think about how to sustain your business and impact society,” Mwijukye said. Set against the backdrop of women adapting ICTs to boost their different businesses, the evening at Kampala Serena Hotel last month, brought together both professional and business women, as well as a few men, to sip from the wisdom of different experiences. Right from the former finance minister Maria Kiwanuka, to the admirable panellists, the speakers quipped that technology goes a long way to improve one’s business, especially the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), giving them a competitive edge and also helping one minimise costs. Data from Uganda Communications Commission puts the number of internet users in the country at 8.5 million, thus women in business are able to take advantage of this fast growing technology to provide business solutions. The panel, moderated by Marketing and communications specialist Susan Nsibirwa comprised Knight Frank’s managing director Judy Kyanda, TradeMark Africa Country director Allen Asiimwe, MTN’s chief marketing officer Mapula Bodibe and Vivo Energy’s head of marketing Jean Mugisha. The Women in Business awards are an initiative to accelerate the role of women in driving enterprise development and job...

The East African Community is leading in regional integration and free movement of goods and people on the continent. A new report unveiled at the ongoing African Development Week meeting at Addis Ababa indicated the cross-border movements were easiest between Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. EAC's leadership in integration, which identified various matrices including roaming costs and volume of trade, is a major indicator towards achieving the dream of a unified Africa by 2063. "Deeper regional integration means larger markets and industrialisation and productivity as part of value chains," said Erastus Mwencha, the deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, adding: "It means talent mobility thanks to greater visa openness." Kenyan citizens, for instance, only need to produce their national identification documents to enter any of the countries in the bloc, while work permit requirements are minimal as the region works towards the dream of a common currency. A regional parliament made of 54 members, which has been sitting since November 2001, is charged with streamlining the respective country laws with the vision of the five-member community. Several firms have had their shares cross-listed at the various stock exchanges. Integration in the EAC was ranked ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc where Tanzania has a cross-membership. South Africa is the most developed economy in the trading bloc, and is naturally the biggest exporter into the 15-member community. Africa's largest bloc, the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad), which draws membership from 27 countries in the northern part...

By Marc Nkwame Arusha — AS the new Secretary General for the East African Community is set to report at the Secretariat this month, the East African Employers' Organization already has some tasks ready for him. "We want the new EAC Secretary General, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, to push the five governments of the member states in fast-tracking free movement of workers, persons and labour," stated the chairperson of the East African Employers' Organization (EAEO), Ms Rosemary Ssenabulya, who is also the Executive Director of Uganda Employers' Association. Ms Ssenabulya was delivering a joint statement from heads of employers' associations from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi who gathered here under their EAEO umbrella to discuss the implementation of the East African Community's Common Market Protocol, launched back in July 2010 but until now, many figure that the CMP remains a far-fetched theory. Free movement of people, capital and labour were among the things stipulated in the East African Common Market Protocol. However the EAC stated earlier that, free movement of people will only be viable once each member state issued machine-readable Identity Cards. "We are however happy that, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waivered work permit fees in their respective borders, which by itself is great achievement of the East African Community under the outgoing Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera," added the Executive Director of the Association of Tanzania Employees (ATE), Dr Aggrey Mlimuka, the Secretary General of EAEO. They were of view that, it is high time Tanzania and...

It is no secret that donors finance the lion’s share of activities by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat and the regional organization’s other organs and institutions, a fact that we are nauseatingly reminded at every opportunity. One such occasion was during the Fourth High-Level Dialogue of the EAC Partnership Fund held on March 25th in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The dialogue was attended by Heads of Diplomatic Missions accredited to the EAC and members of the Partnership Fund. Since many people in the region are no doubt impressed by the millions of dollars spent by donor nations on various projects in their own countries, they tend to appreciate this help and fail to see the bigger picture created by donor dependency. And it is something that the current EAC chair, President John Magufuli of Tanzania, should look into more closely. In fact, many analysts have doubted the value of the aid given to the Third World. It is aid that is designed to maintain the economic status quo: Ensuring that developing countries do not rise up to utilize their full potential, and that they remain satellites of Western economies. But first, back to the Partnership Fund. Now, this Fund has 11 contributing members made up of the usual list of Western donors: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the European Union and the United Kingdom. It also gives observer status for development partners who are considering starting contributing to the fund: Australia, Italy, Switzerland and Turkey....

TRADE barriers and poor infrastructure are preventing sugar producers in sub-Saharan Africa from accessing under-supplied regions on the continent as an imminent end to import quotas in the European Union compels them to find new markets. A preferential-access deal with the EU for African, Caribbean and Pacific sugar producers ends in September 2017, potentially depriving the farmers further access to a duty-free market. Exports to the EU account for a fifth of the sub-Saharan region’s current annual output of about 7.5 million metric tons, according to Cooperatieve Rabobank UA. While sub-Saharan Africa consumes more sugar than it produces, growers may struggle to plug this shortfall because insufficient infrastructure makes deliveries between regions difficult and import duties lift the cost of sales, said Lindsay Jolly, a senior economist at the International Sugar Organisation. “The first question is—do you have the infrastructure in place, those highways of trade throughout Africa?” Jolly said Thursday on the sidelines of a conference in Maputo, Mozambique. “The answer is you haven’t got those. The less competitive players just may have to produce less.” Consumption forecast Sub-Saharan Africa will consume 10.2 million tons of the sweetener in 2016, creating supply shortfall of about 2.4 million tons in the region, according to the International Sugar Organisation. Sales to the EU account for the vast majority of exports from Mauritius and Mozambique, and about half of those from Swaziland, Gareth Forber, head of sugar research at LMC International Ltd., said at the conference. While EU sugar production is expected...

Recycling at work GIKOMBA market, just north of Nairobi’s downtown, is a place to buy just about anything. At its entrance, where ragged minibuses splash their way through rutted red mud, stalls sell piles of pillows, plastic toys, cutlery and soap. Source: The Economist

The government will not issue a blanket ban on the importation of second-hand clothes popularly known as mitumba. Industry and Enterprise Development Principal secretary Julius Koris said the government and the East African Community do not plan to ban the sale of mitumba without providing alternatives for consumers and traders. Korir told a national stakeholders' workshop on Thursday that the matter is sensitive and needs to be addressed seriously. The government plans to ban the importation of mitumba clothes in phases over the next three years. The plan is also being considered at the EAC level, with Uganda already crafting laws to stop mitumba imports. The PS said the industry needs interventions such as removing barriers and creating incentives for investors to make the trade more competitive, for competition with evolving markets. EAC states, Korir added, should develop an effective and sustainable implementation environment for policies formulated to address the issue. Tabled proposals, other than the ban, include raising the duty rates for finished clothes to above 50 per cent or a minimum specific duty of $10 (Sh1,013). Another option is setting up regional fall-back processing parks to produce clothes at cheaper rates for the domestic market. Source: The Star

Kenya and its neighbors Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda have fully embraced the Electronic Single Window System and are now effectively coordinating in cargo clearance and tracking. The system facilitates exchange of data among the East African Community (EAC) countries. It is supported by the tracking system that monitors cargo from their check-off point to destination point, avoiding dumping and theft. Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta, Paul Kagame of Rwanda,Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir ushered in the system in Nairobi two years ago. Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda South Sudan and Tanzania are all expected to adopt to the system that harmonizes border control. The countries have to align their custom clearance systems to the new electronic platform, enabling seamless operations. The result is now faster and efficient trade, improved business environment and the introduction of paperless cargo clearance. “The time within which it takes to clear goods has reduced tremendously. At the central corridor, it now takes 3 days, down from the 18 days while in the northern corridor, there is a significant reduction from 21 days to 5 days,” Ambassador Dr. Richard Sezibera former EAC Secretary – General said at the 17th heads of states meeting in Arusha. He remarked that campaigns to ensure realization of cargo clearance system had duly paid off. He affirmed that for instance, “Those visiting the Port of Mombasa will witness revenue officials from the rest of the Partner States clearing goods.” According to TradeMark Africa, a charter signed by President Uhuru...

GIKOMBA market, just north of Nairobi’s downtown, is a place to buy just about anything. At its entrance, where ragged minibuses push their way through rutted red mud, stalls sell piles of pillows, plastic toys, cutlery and soap. But the most common wares are second-hand clothing. Piles of old T-shirts and jeans; winter jackets, incongruous in the equatorial heat; dresses and leather shoes; all are watched carefully by stallholders. This market is the biggest wholesale centre of the mitumba, or used-clothing, trade in east Africa. The clothes worn by the bulk of Nairobi’s population are sourced here. Yet if the governments of the East African Community, the regional trade bloc which comprises Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, get their way, all will change. By 2019 the EAC wants to outlaw imports of second-hand clothes. The idea is that ending the trade in old clothes—mostly donated by their former owners in rich countries—will help boost local manufacturing. On March 10th Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s president, met market traders upset by the idea, and defended the need for “Kenyan manufactured apparel”. Yet the ban seems sure to fail. itumba trading is a big employer for Kenyans, most of whom work in the informal labour market. By one estimate, there are 65,000 traders in Gikomba alone. Imports have increased massively over the past two decades. In 2015, according to UN data, Kenya imported about 18,000 tonnes of clothing from Britain alone. Whole-salers buy bundles for anything up to 10,000 shillings (about $100), and...