Posted on January, 23, 2019 at 09:24 am
Martin Mwita @MwitaMartin
The Kenyan business society has blamed protectionism by a section of the East Africa Community (EAC) member States for slowing down regional integration, which has been largely hindered by tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs).
Led by top chief executives and industry stakeholders in the country, Kenyan businesses have instead called on the government and investors in the respective countries to stop viewing one another as competitors and support intra-regional trade.
This comes as NTBs continue to hinder seamless movement of goods and labour in the region, where Tanzania has been seen as the most notorious in locking out her neighbours.
Some member states have put in place stringent measures and fees that bar movement of goods and persons.
Speaking during a high-level breakfast session panel in Nairobi yesterday, ahead of the Africa CEO Forum set for Rwanda in March, CEO’s called on members states to complement one another for mutual benefit.
Market dominance
“Kenya is no longer in a position that you would say is dominating the market. We need to review and end the fears and instead work together for regional growth,” said Toyota Kenya chairman Dennis Awori, noting that protectionism is brought by the fear of competition.
Awori who is also in the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) leadership said the markets should provide equal opportunities for member states, noting that Kenya has been on the forefront of welcoming goods and investments from the region.
This, he said, has seen her neighbours such as Uganda increase her exports to Kenya to new levels.
Protectionism is a policy of protecting domestic industries against foreign competition by means of tariffs, subsidies, import quotas, or other restrictions or handicaps placed on the imports of foreign competitors.
Source: MediaMax Network