Posted on August, 11, 2021 at 08:28 am
THE maiden visit by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to Kenya has paid handsomely to traders in Tanzania and consumers in Kenya.
President Samia met with her counterpart, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and discussed different issues including addressing challenges in business between the two countries after a stint of controversy.
The visit that was in early May has cleared the way for maize exports from Tanzania that was banned for a while by Kenyan authorities, with reports saying that volume of exports has surged to more than sixfold.
Authorities in Kenya have unveiled figures jumping from 16,137 bags in April to a monthly record of 118,329 in May after the bilateral deal eradicated the restraints that Nairobi had imposed on Tanzania's maize export.
Longido District Commissioner (DC), Mr Nurdin Babu confided with the 'Daily News' that Tanzanians have tapped the business opportunity wisely and that a lot of trucks are crossing the border with the cereal.
"After the visit to Kenya by our president, things have greatly changed. Traders from Tanzania have been blessed by her move to clear the hurdle by talking to Kenyan president. We, at Longido, witness the way trucks cross the border exporting maize. It is a great opportunity for business, but also a means of life for Kenyans," said Mr Babu.
He noted that despite the huge maize export, Tanzania still has enough stock that will not leave it vulnerable to famine, adding that there should not be any fear in the public.
In a related development, the DC noted that security on the ground along the borders is normal and traders are exploiting the opportunity to mint extra coin.
Earlier, Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture had banned imports of maize from Tanzania and Uganda alleging that they had high levels of aflatoxins.
Though Kenya is a large importer of maize to address deficit in the country, it started mending fences with Tanzania shortly after President Samia physically made a trip to Nairobi and met her counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta.
And their trade ministers meeting in Arusha just weeks after the visit to address other underlying trade issues too, trade between the two countries has greatly picked up.
Reached for a comment, government officials at the Namanga Border post on Tanzania side, who preferred anonymity, said after implementing the State orders, business has been flowing well and enriching the nationals.
On the other side, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Manager at Namanga, Mr Joseph Moywaywa said Tanzanians are free to sell maize in big quantities as they can without experiencing in bureaucratic hitches.
On his part, East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Dr Peter Mathuki called upon the various government agencies at Namanga border to hold regular consultative meetings with traders to identify and address factors that may still affect intra-regional trade.
The flow of goods and services at the Namanga border has now come back to normal with goods moving both ways. Trade is the major driving factor of the EAC integration, and thus the need to ensure businesspeople in the region could transact business without any hurdles.
Currently EAC intra-regional trade is under 20 per cent, and it is Dr Mathuki's mission to ensure that it grows to at least 50 per cent in the next five years. To achieve that, Dr Mathuki urged border management officials to hold regular consultative meetings with stakeholders as well as conduct quarterly reviews to track trade volumes.
After Kenya slapped a ban on Tanzania maize export, the exporters returned home maize that was already cleared at Tanzania's side of Namanga Border.
Tracing back, the dispute started on March 5th this year, when the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) on the Kenyan side slapped a ban on imports of maize from Tanzania and Uganda on the pretext that they contain high levels of Mycotoxins. Despite samples being taken for tests, no results have been returned, a month on.
Although after a week the ban was lifted with conditions on importers being required to be registered, the consignments were tasked to be accompanied with certificate of conformity on aflatoxin levels, and traders issue details of their warehouses, Tanzanian trucks were returned home with maize.
Some 22-trucks checked in since March 5th this year, but some 18 trucks that were denied entry applied to and returned to Tanzania with maize, with four trucks owned by Kenyan Mama Millers Ltd remain at the border with maize and the 'Daily News' witnessed the trucks packed on the Kenyan side of the border by April 5th.
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EAC opts for joint Covid-19 vaccine manufacture
From DEUS NGOWI, Arusha
THE East African Community (EAC) Secretariat has noted that it is strengthening public-private partnership in efforts to steer joint investment in Covid-19 vaccine manufacture.
The EAC Secretary General, Dr Peter Mathuki has said that the region wants to see better lives for the six members state, as the world experiences the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Mathuki was speaking at the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Roundtable Breakfast meeting organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) in Nairobi, Kenya, noting that the EAC Secretariat is working on reviewing the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC.
He insisted that there was need for a coordinated approach in handling Covid-19 in the region and emphasized on the need for local production of vaccines.
"EAC is working on strengthening partnerships between the private sector and EAC partner states' governments, to jointly establish investment in vaccine manufacturing, to ensure the region can produce and avail vaccines to East Africans. Truck drivers transporting goods across the region should also be included in the priority groups, who need to be vaccinated," Dr Mathuki said.
The SG noted that the EAC Secretariat is working on reviewing the Treaty for the establishment of the.
"There is a need for a comprehensive review of the Treaty and other legal instruments to reflect current EAC membership and provide mechanisms of resolving ongoing challenges. I am optimistic that there is a lot of goodwill around this, as this was also echoed by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu during her recent courtesy visit to the EAC Secretariat," Dr Mathuki added.
The Secretary General further disclosed that the Community was working on developing a harmonized framework for a collective response by partner states to Covid-19 in the region through the East African Business Council (EABC) and EAC Technical Working Group (TWG) launched last month.
The Kenyan private sector players expressed optimism in making steps towards recovery of Covid-19, following a commitment by the EAC Secretariat to prioritize strengthening public-private sector partnerships.
Mr Adan Mohamed, the Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers and Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for EAC and Regional Development, reaffirmed his commitment to improving the business climate in all EAC Partner States through stronger Public-Private Dialogues (PPD).
"We are also currently in the process of building a Ksh.5 billion cross border market at the Kenya-Uganda border which is set to increase cross border trade," said Mr Mohamed.
Kenyan Principal Secretary, State Department of EAC, Dr Kevit Desai said that there was a need for strengthened coordination on infrastructure spending to speed up development in the region.
The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Speaker, Mr Martin Ngoga, urged the business community to avoid getting entangled in national politics, instead form a unified front.
"We should always look at intra-EAC challenges not through geo- political lenses but through the eyes of the collective private sector," Mr Ngoga said.
The EAC Director General for Customs and Trade, Mr Kenneth Bagamuhunda, said that the EAC was developing an e-Commerce strategy and a centralised platform for trade facilitation agencies in order to ease intra-EAC trade.
The meeting held under the theme ´Enhancing a Private Sector-led Integration & Emerging Opportunities in East Africa´ was coordinated by the EABC and attended by industry captains from the EABC, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM).
EABC Chairman, Mr Nick Nesbitt said that the private sector was in full support of the EAC Secretariat in its energized push of the comprehensive review of taxes in the region and adoption of the One Network Area to lower the cost of telecommunications.
The business community also asked the EAC Secretariat to urge EAC partner states to push for elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs), harmonization of taxes and product standards in the region.
"Our deliberations today are set to improve the business and investment climate in the EAC in a bid to spur economic resilience, sustain jobs and revive cross border business operations," EABC CEO, Mr John Bosco Kalisa said.
Source: Daily News