The construction of the remaining section of the new Standard Gauge Railway, between the Kenyan Rift Valley, the border with Uganda and then on to Kampala, has come a step closer after the two partner countries have agreed to jointly source the financing for this project. One delegation made up by experts from both countries will travel to China together, or so it is understood, after consensus was reached between Kenya and Uganda that 80 percent of all inbound and outbound cargos will use the Northern Rail Corridor and the port of Mombasa. Feathers were ruffled a few months ago when Uganda pulled the almost certain routing of its oil export pipeline from a routing through Kenya and signed a firm agreement with Tanzania. The new pipeline routing will now circumnavigate Lake Victoria and then run in an almost straight line towards the port of Tanga which will be upgraded over the next two years to incorporate an oil loading facility. At the time did the future of the SGR railway look somewhat doubtful with some elements in Kenya pressing their government to terminate the SGR route at their designated new manufacturing zone in Naivasha but the latest agreements, in particular with the firm commitment to ship 80 percent of the cargo traffic to Mombasa and the joint finance sourcing, was this obstacle finally removed. There has not yet been a final decision on the route in Uganda between the border and Kampala but it is expected to be in...

Arusha. The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) yesterday dismissed an application filed by a Tanzanian against the East African Community (EAC) member states signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The regional court refused to grant an order restraining four partner states, including Tanzania, which have not signed the EAC-EU-EPA trade arrangement from penning the deal. Equally, the court under the Deputy Principal Judge, Isaac Lenaola, failed to restrain Kenya and Rwanda, which had signed it, from continuing with the subsequent procedures. The court also refused to direct the seventh respondent, the EAC, in an application filed by Castro Pius Shirima, to withdraw forthwith from any negotiations initiated with the EU. Apart from Tanzania, three other countries which have declined to sign the EPA agreement are Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan. The latter joined the EAC only last year and was not involved in negotiations that date back to 2002. Kenya and Rwanda signed the deal in September last year, roughly around the time the negotiations were concluded. Kenya has even ratified it and has been pressing for fellow states in the bloc to follow suit. Mr Shirima had sought the court’s order that would bar the EAC member states and the secretary general of the community from signing the EPA deal on grounds that signing the agreement was in contravention of the EAC Treaty. He further argued that the EAC bloc would suffer considerably by nodding to EPA, noting that agriculture - the backbone...

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies will today leave for Uganda where he will attend the Tripartite Committee of Sectoral Ministers meeting. The meeting, which will be held in Kampala on Friday, will give the Ministers from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), and Southern African Development Community (SADC) an opportunity to get an update on the progress achieved in the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) negotiations. The TFTA consists of 26 member states of the African Union. "The TFTA marks an important step in promoting regional integration in Africa and is a building block for the Continental Free Trade Area. The meeting is expected to consider the remaining annexes, thus marking the conclusion of the legal framework for trade in goods," said the Department of Trade and Industry. This will facilitate the signature of the agreement by all member states. Negotiations on tariffs, rules of origin and Phase II will continue as part of the built-in agenda. Minister Davies has said that considerable progress has been achieved in tariff negotiations between Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the EAC and Egypt. According to Minister Davies, it is expected that SACU and the EAC will conclude the tariff negotiations in the near future. Launch of Microfinish Automotive Meanwhile, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Bulelani Magwanishe will on Friday launch the multi-million black industrialist firm, Microfinish Automotive in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. Microfinish, which is an automotive valve guide and valve seat manufacturer, was approved for...

Growth in the logistics industry may stagnate or drop due to inadequate participation of women in the sector, a new study by lobby group Trademark East Africa shows. The study, released in June reveals that 68 per cent of female employees in the logistics sector find their working conditions very poor while only 13 per cent find them good. Locally, only 20.5 per cent of employees in the logistics sector are women, a statistic that is below the one-third participation requirement by the law. The story is replicated throughout the East African region with only Rwanda achieving slightly above the one-third rule, at 33.3 per cent, while Tanzania and Uganda stagnate at 15.8 per cent, while Burundi trails behind at 15.6 per cent women in the sector. “East Africa’s logistics industry faces a significant skills gap and the region could make up on much needed skills by enhancing women’s participation. We need to get to that level where more women take up relevant training courses and eventually these jobs so that we all grow the economies,” TradeMark Africa director of trade logistics Abhishek Sharma said in a statement to the Star. Collectively, the East Africa region only has 19.73 per cent of its women in the logistics industry with men taking up 80.21 per cent of the jobs. According to the study, the pipeline of young women to the industry is very narrow, a situation likely to make the sector worsen as women in the country are failing to enroll...

Traders have been urged to take advantage of the new customs reforms to become more competitive and increase cross-border trade. According to the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), some of the reforms including, the gold card scheme and authorised economic operator, offer benefits that could enhance the efficiency of local traders. Though some of the reforms were implemented this year, the gold card facility was launched two years ago to ease goods clearance procedures for low-risk importers. Fred Nuwagaba, the RRA customs unit trade management division expert, however, said few cross-border traders have embraced the facility despite its enormous benefits. “Goods of compliant tax-payers that hold this facility (gold card) are released immediately upon declaration at customs. This is, therefore, an instrument that eases and promotes trade that the importers should exploit to boost business,” Nuwagaba told The New Times. The gold card scheme is intended to help customs balance its conflicting mandates of trade facilitation and enforcement and control, the expert explained. It also allows the department to facilitate low-risk consignments, allowing the agency to focus its enforcement efforts on the transactions representing “higher or unknown risk” ensuring easy flow of goods, he added. Sensitisation needed Trade experts, however, say there is need to sensitise traders on such facilities to enhance their effectiveness and, ultimately, promote regional trade. Kevin Umuhoza, a trade expert in Kigali, said it is RRA’s responsibility to educate traders about such facilities and the benefits they present them (business community). Umuhoza added that few importers and exporters...

Cases of informal cross-border traders using dangerous methods and routes to move their goods across the regional borders are many. As a result, those involved in informal cross-border trade, many of whom are women, live a risky life. Despite the difficulties the informal cross-border traders go through, they barely make enough money as most of their proceeds end up being used in facilitating movements of their merchandises across the borders. And in many cases they fall prey to thugs and even unscrupulous border officials who intimidate and harass them before confiscating their produces on the flimsiest of reasons. Dangers at hand During the tour of Mirama Hills one stop border point (OSBP) last week, it emerged that some female cross-border traders while trying to use “illegal routes” end up drowning in Mirama stream, a stretch between Uganda and Rwandan border. Several lose their goods while others endure sexual harassment are now a common tale. “Most cross border traders, especially the women, do not use the official border points because they not only feel intimidated by the border procedures but most of them do not seem to understand issues of taxation,” the acting executive director of Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women, Ms Christine Nankubuge, said during the launch of the charter for cross border traders last week at Mirama Hills, adding: “Intimidation of women by some border officials has also resulted in them shunning the official border posts in favour of other dangerous routes, something we...

How effective are East African border points? Government of Uganda and Trademark East Africa (TMA), with funding from Department for International Development ( DFID), have constructed and operationalised Busia (border with Kenya), Mirama Hills (border with Rwanda) and Mutukula (border with Tanzania). Construction of Elegu (border with South Sudan) is underway and is expected to be operational before the end of this year. The parking area is to be expanded to hold large volumes of cargo to and from South Sudan and Northern Uganda. Based on the time and traffic survey they have been conducted on the one-stop border points of Busia, Mutukula and Mirama Hills, these border points are effective because of infrastructure upgrades which ensure that clearance is once on one side of the border, with coordination of all border agencies. At Busia, if a cargo truck or passenger bus is coming from Kenya into Uganda, the truck does not have to stop at the Kenyan side of the border; it only stops at the Ugandan side where all controls and checks are conducted by both the Ugandan and the Kenyan border officials. This is the One-Stop Border Control. Studies indicate that a delay of one day costs private sector $400 (about Shs1.4 million) per truck. At Busia border, clearance time has reduced by 87 per cent from an average of 2.5 days before the one-stop controls to less than one day after the controls. At Mutukula border, clearance time has reduced from an average of 2.2 days...

Kenya stands to gain significantly from stronger economic growth of regional partners, as it can take advantage of increased demand from these economies, says a report launched on Tuesday by an international accountancy and finance body. The report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) finds that Nairobi is positioned to take advantage of rising demand for manufactured goods, while the country's location and relatively developed transport infrastructure will allow Kenya to act as the gateway into the East Africa region. "The East Africa Community (EAC)'s infrastructure development strategy still largely depends on improving the efficiency of imports to the region through Mombasa, from which Kenya can be expected to gain," the report says. The report reveals that EAC members accounted for a fifth of total Kenyan exports in 2016. According to the report, the African continent accounted for 41 percent of Kenya's exports in 2016 while Europe and Asia each accounted for approximately a quarter of total exports. The study finds that Uganda held the position of Kenya's largest single export destination accounting for 11 percent of total exports during 2016. The report, commissioned by ICAEW and produced by partner and forecaster Oxford Economics, provides a snapshot of the region's economic performance. The report focuses specifically on Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Angola. The East African nation has been relatively successful in diversifying its exports and building up a strong manufacturing base. Agricultural products such as tea and flowers made...

EAST African Grain Council (EAGC) is optimistic that the Zambia Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE) platform will boost trade relations between Zambia and East Africa. EAGC executive director Gerald Masila said the East African region has a great demand for local commodities, providing an opportunity for Zambia to supply grains and cereal to that region. Mr Masila said in an interview when ZAMACE hosted-regional grain trade facilitation forum last week that the gathering provided an opportunity for Zambia to supply East Africa as Zambia is a big supplier and producer of grains and cereal. “We are here hosting a trade facilitation programme that has brought together buyers from the East African region including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and others. “In this forum, buyers from the Eastern African region are meeting sellers from Zambia and they are negotiating and signing transaction agreements for supply of grains and cereals out of Zambia to East Africa… This is the beginning of a long journey that will see a total change in trade relations between Zambia and East Africa,” he said. Mr Masila said the assurances that Minister of Finance Felix Mutati gave to the business community that Government will support the transactions and also address the bottlenecks that may come along the way of trading will further boost trade relations. “We are, therefore, glad that the minister [of Finance] has confirmed that the export bans are a thing of the past and that Zambia has changed orientation so that this country will be looking...

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has been commended for banning plastic bags. Eala passed the Polythene Materials Control Bill 2016 that if it becomes a law it will totally ban the use of plastic bags across the East African Community. According to stakeholders here, plastic materials threaten the ecosystem. The bill proposes the use of biodegradable packaging materials. Moreover, exemptions have been made for materials used in medical stores, industrial packaging, and agriculture. Punishment for those caught breaking the law will be left at the discretion of member states. Despite efforts by authorities to manage the environment, the use and right disposal of polythene materials have been a problem. The Lake Zone director for the National Environment Management Council, Mr Jamal Baluti, says the majority of the people are ignorant about the dangers of plastic materials to the environment. He says people cannot manage the use of plastic bags because there are no other packaging materials to replace plastic bags. "The idea of phasing out plastic bags across the bloc has been discussed by environment agencies of EAC member states." He noted that the amount of resources the government spends to unblock drainage systems and clean the environment is bigger than the cost of replacing packaging practices. According to him, the introduction of right policies and proper enforcement mechanisms will have plastic bags phased out easily. He cites Rwanda, which banned plastic bags in 2008 and replaced them by biodegradable packaging materials. Tanzania banned liquor sachets to protect the...