Arusha — Talks aiming at ending political violence in Burundi will resume next week under retired President Benjamin Mkapa with exiled politicians not likely to attend. Sources close to the Office of the Facilitator of Inter-Burundi Dialogue said some opposition leaders, who fled the country after being implicated in the May 2015 coup attempt against the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza had not been invited. "They will not come because they are wanted at home for subversive activities," a source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Citizen, adding that the Bujumbura authorities alleged those behind the 2015/16 turmoil were also not expected to join the talks. A statement issued yesterday by the Office of the Facilitator through the East African Community (EAC) announced the commencement of formal dialogue scheduled for February 16-18 at Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC). The convening of the session follows what is described as "rigorous consultations" the facilitator made with various stakeholders within and outside Burundi after, which Mr Mkapa and his team identified an eight-point agenda raised by all stakeholders and agreed to be the main sticking points, which he reported to the Summit of the EAC Heads of State in September last year. "This eight-point agenda, which will form the thrust of the dialogue and subsequent negations, is no particular order of importance," the statement says. The main sticking points include security and commitment to ending all forms of violence, commitment to the rule of law and an end to impunity, status of...

A delegation from the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has travelled to Nairobi to meet trade advisors from the World Bank, to discuss the future of the trade in used textiles to East Africa. The group included BIR President Ranjit Baxi and Textiles Division President Mehdi Zerroug whose visit to Kenya was focussed on proposals to phase out the imports of used textiles and footwear into the East African Community (EAC) by 2019. The EAC comprises six countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. In March 2016, the heads of state of the EAC agreed to phase out used clothing imports with a view to promoting industries in the textile and leather sectors within their own countries.Backing for the trip also came from the UK’s Textile Recycling Association (TRA) with a number of its members also contributing to the funding of the meeting. Trade The trade in used clothing is an important market for some of the UK’s textile recyclers, with estimates suggesting that as much as 15% of the used clothing exported from the UK finds its way to EAC nations. And, the trade in used clothing is also thought to be important within the EAC nations themselves, with the imports providing an affordable source of clothing and employment opportunities. BIR met with trade advisors from the World Bank whose work in Kenya aims to accelerate sustainable growth, reduce inequality, and manage resource scarcity, in a bid to discuss potential for a review of the decision by...

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) will replace the obsolete Simba System with a modern integrated customs management system to curb tax evasion by June. KRA said yesterday the Simba System, used in the clearing of imports by custom agents, was no longer tenable as it has glaring loopholes that rogue agents exploit to evade paying duty. KRA Commissioner for Customs and Border Control Julius Musyoki said in Mombasa the system also experiences prolonged downtime, leading to delay in movement of cargo from the port of Mombasa. “Implementation of the new integrated customs system will start at the end of next month, when we will do the piloting before commissioning it in June,” said Mr Musyoki during a meeting on capacity building for the East and Southern Africa region sponsored by the World Customs Organisation. He said the new system, whose implementation is being financed through a Sh1.1 billion financing from the Government and TradeMark Africa, will be fitted with special features to carry out automated evaluation of the value of cargo to help address the perennial challenge of cargo under-valuation. Other benefits of the new system include being able to integrate to the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking Platform. The platform, which has already been agreed by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, will use one system that enables all countries to monitor the movement of cargo from the Mombasa Port to its final destination. “This approach will eliminate the opportunities presently exploited by tax evaders at the changeovers of seals at boarder points...

IN SUMMARY Tea Directorate says the volumes grew to 27 million kilogrammes from 19 million kilos in 2015, after an unilateral agreement to suspend the shelf-life cut directive by the Sudanese government last March. The move implies that Kenya’s tea will continue accessing their market without restrictions as a technical research team works to determine the actual shelf-life of the beverage, a condition issued by Sudan. Tea exports to Sudan increased by 27 per cent last year following Khartoum’s suspension of a cut in official shelf-life for the Kenyan beverage from three to one-and-a-half years. Tea directorate says the volumes grew to 27 million kilogrammes from 19 million kilos in 2015, after an unilateral agreement to suspend the directive by the Sudanese government last March. Kenyan traders have also received another major boost as Khartoum gave the country a further six months after the previous waiver expired in December last year. The move implies that Kenya’s tea will continue accessing their market without restrictions as a technical research team works to determine the actual shelf-life of the beverage, a condition issued by Sudan. The directive saw sales to Khartoum drop by 30 per cent in 2015, affecting the exports to one of Kenya’s major markets. Head of Tea Directorate Samuel Ogola said the decision by Khartoum to delay the implementation of the directive played a significant role in boosting the volumes. “There was a significant growth in terms of volumes and revenue that we got from Sudan and this is...

IN SUMMARY The passenger train plying the 472km Mombasa-Nairobi route will take an estimated four and a half hours. Passengers travelling to other towns between Nairobi and Mombasa will have to rely on the second option, the Inter-County service which will make seven stops. The cargo fleet are expected to maintain “an average practical speed” of 60 km per hour. Imagine boarding a train at dawn in Nairobi to attend a breakfast meeting in Mombasa and by early afternoon, you are back for your day-to-day business in the city. That sounds revolutionary for a country where travelling one-way by train is currently a whole day experience. Or picture a case where many of the little-known towns along the Mombasa-Nairobi route have suddenly become commercial and manufacturing hubs, something that has eluded them since Independence more than 50 years ago. Only four months to the launch of Kenya’s fast Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) train, there appears to be no let up in feel good promises as State officials continue to paint a picture of an efficient modern transport system that awaits the country as it prepares to put the new line to use. President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to celebrate this year’s Madaraka Day by riding on the fast train from Mombasa to Nairobi on June 1. The Kenya Railways Corporation (KR) said the Intercity Express, the passenger train plying the 472km Mombasa-Nairobi route will take an estimated four and a half hours. The agency’s chief executive, Atanas Maina, said the...

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Tanzania should open up its Dar es Salaam port  to trudge cargo volume, expand and build new transport links to make Tanzania a regional hub while turning the country as Dubai of East Africa, the East African Business Week can report.  “The Dar es Salaam port is an engine for economic growth, if we invest in logistic centers, improve on infrastructure and create a facilitative environment, we can easily turn Dar es Salaam into another Dubai of its kind in East Africa,” said Tanzania China Mining Association Chairman Superintended Andrew Huang. The fifth phase government under Dr. John Pombe Magufuli has a chance to use effectively the Dar es Salaam port to increase 100% of the country source of revenue to foster the city to become a Dubai of the East Africa region. Speaking to East African Business Week exclusively,  Andrew Huang said the measures taken by President Magufuli have removed bureaucratic hurdles hence promote cargo volumes from neighboring countries and abroad. He said it is easy to attract all large investors and make Dar es Salaam a huge financial center by allowing and encouraging colossal banks to invest and conduct financial business and market in the country. Huang noted the city of Dar es Salaam deserved to have well-constructed roads, railways to the central line, buildings, malls and fast track it as a satellite city ready for massive investment from international business people. Tanzania, just like its neighbor Kenya, wants to capitalize on a...

Kenya has kicked off their side of the infrastructure projects that were promised and agreed to by the East African Community members under the East African Railway Master Plan. The US$ 24 billion project, with the Acronym LAPSSET (Lamu Port, South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor) is a massive infrastructure project originating from Kenya, consisting of a 32-berth port on the country’s north coast, a railway, an oil pipeline, highways, international airports, and resort cities. This will definitely answer the question of ensuring a timely delivery of goods to both local and international markets for the area so affected. There have been, however, several hickups to the project mainly due to bickering by member states and disagreements that, do not seem to originate from realistic objections or issues other than differences in opinion and, perhaps ego. There was a pipeline slated to use this same LAPSSET corridor from Uganda to the coast, but this was shelved in favour of the Tanzania route. Ofcourse, there are issues of security in the north of Kenya, with several swathes of land being rather lawless due to the difficulty to reach these areas. However, one of the creators of the project, Gerrishon Ikiara, says the infrastructure project itself will bring about security in the area due to the fact that the area will now be easy to reach. This is all good, but there is an air of going it alone in this project. The name LAPSSET does not have anything to do with the...

ARUSHA, Tanzania - The United States Agency for Development (USAID) has met with officials of the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat to operationalize the five-year Regional Development Objectives Grant Agreement (RDOAG) they received last year.    “RDOAG provides for changes in the way USAID will do its business; strengthen USAID-EAC Partnership; stronger collaboration, coordination and communication, and institutional strengthening,” said Candace Buzzard, USAID’s Deputy Mission Director for Kenya and East Africa. USAID granted EAC US$194 million under the RDOAG which was launched in November last year, money is meant to be spent on shared development goals over the next five years. The money is to benefit sectors funded under the RDOAG which include among others health, environment, natural resources, climate change, trade, security and energy.Buzzard said USAID will coordinate more closely with the EAC to ensure better delivery of project goals. “USAID’s gesture had sent a strong signal of its desire to support the Community attain its goals,” said, the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Libérat Mfumukeko. Mfumukeko said USAID’s contribution would enable the Community to achieve many things. He said of the US$194 million, about US$30 million will finance institutional strengthening within the EAC Secretariat while the remainder will support other development partners in their efforts to contribute to the EAC regional integration agenda. The Secretary General said that the new EAC-USAID Regional Development Objective Grant Agreement (RDOAG) 2016-2021 would deepen integration, improve cross-border risk management and strengthen regional institutions leadership and learning. He added that the RDOAG would support...

As director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy found himself at the front line of globalisation, which for him has had the extremely positive effect of reducing poverty, even as he recognises that it has created greater inequality. He believes countries that have opened up to trade have fared better in terms of growth and development than others, and he disagrees with the assertion that we are approaching the limits of the current system. Globalisation, he argues, is just another form of capitalism, whose ability to create efficiencies and reduce poverty is well known. But these benefits come at the expense of destructive and creative processes – “it works because it’s painful and it’s painful because it works.” He can’t see a crisis of globalisation that isn’t a crisis of capitalism, and capitalism is in a permanent state of crisis, always re-inventing itself. The problem is with distribution of the benefits of the greater efficiencies, which is more acute than it was 20 years ago. But we cannot reverse these effects by closing down trade, he says. The problem is one of social policy, of local consensus over taxation and social security – social issues not very different from those we faced in the nineteenth century. What he does think needs to be improved are global systems of governance. Regulation of international relations and the organisation of global cities can no longer rely on nation states alone, but must also involve NGOs, multinational businesses, governments and cities....

The government has began the inspection and commissioning of locomotives for the standard gauge railway (SGR), moving to indicate that the completion of the first phase will be on schedule. Speaking to journalists at State House, Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said the first journey from Mombasa to Nairobi will start in June. "Testing, commissioning and inspection of these locomotives has already begun. Kenya remains on track to see the first SGR journey to Nairobi from Mombasa on June 1, 2017," Mr Esipisu said. Mr Esipisu said more locomotives and passenger coaches will be delivered later. The first batch of locomotives arrived at the Mombasa port on January 10. "Eight heavy haul freight locomotives, passenger locomotives as well as two shunting locomotives have been delivered. More deliveries are expected in the coming months," he added. The President Uhuru Kenyatta will commission the Sh372 billion project after its completion. He further said Kenya Railways has procured 56 locomotives, 40 passenger coaches and 1,620 wagons. Last month, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said that the second batch of six locomotives is expected to arrive this month and the last batch of 44 by May. Mr Macharia said the railway will decongest the port and boost cargo transportation to Nairobi. The railway will connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. Source: Daily Nation