Author: Kawira Mutisya

Over Sh600, 000 is up for grabs in the new Makueni Innovation Challenge 2021 that is seeking ideas that will bring economic recovery amidst Covid-19.

The challenge targets all youths across the country, individual, groups or institutions aged between 18-35 years with ideas that fall into the thematic area of Agriculture, Health and Trade.

The challenge has been organized by Makueni County in collaboration with other partners that include Association of Countrywide Innovation Hubs, Communication Authority of Kenya, Africa118, Africaistalking, Decoded and Liquid Telkom.

Makueni County Governor Kivutha Kibwana says the aim of the challenge is to catalyze the growth of startups, so as to amplify and consolidate the gains of the country’s digital innovative ecosystem.

Also Read: Innovation Africa: Defining technological change on the continent

“Youths must grasp the opportunities available at their disposal, and utilize them to enhance their skills to become entrepreneurs, employable and problem solvers in …

The number and size of desert locust swarms in Ethiopia and Kenya has decreased significantly between January and March this year.   While this is indicative that good progress has been achieved, particularly in Kenya where swarms are no longer arriving from the north, the FAO still cautions that the situation in northern Somalia is still dire, given that the swarms and hopper bands invasion are still persistent.

This is according to an analysis by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which also states that the decline is as a result of sustained control operations and delayed locust breeding due to limited rainfall. …

Kenya has huge potential for avocado production from both small scale and large scale farmers which makes it the world’s third largest producer of avocados. Avocado is also Kenya’s leading fruit export, accounting for nearly one-fifth of its total horticultural exports. 

In terms of export, Kenya ranked 8th globally (2.1% of market share) in 2019 in export of avocados shipping out 59,000 tons with annual value of Ksh10.6 Billion ($97.92 million), behind Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Chile, Colombia and the United States. 

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The report released by Knight Frank, dubbed Africa Horizons Report 2021/2022 has pointed out that African cities are getting warmer, and it’s bound to get worse.  “Extreme weather changes are going to have a direct impact of the environment within cities and increase the move towards urban migration.” The study reads. 

Some of the regions likely to be affected by this include the Central and Southern parts of Africa including the capitals of Lilongwe and Lusaka. This prediction is based on the firm’s modelling of geographical information systems data using the Köppen Geiger climate change predictions for 2050. 

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The East African Industry Captains have convened in Arusha, Tanzania at Mt. Meru Hotel, to chart out regional policy priorities geared to spur intra-EAC trade to over 30%.

The regional policy priorities were presented to the EAC Secretary General Dr. Peter Mathuki who assumed office on 23^rd April 2021, in a bid to inform his vision of transforming the EAC into a prosperous, inclusive, trade and investment bloc.

Also Read: EABC calls for standardisation of Covid-19 charges

“As the industry leaders we have analyzed key trade and investment barriers, delaying East African businesses to take full advantage of the EAC Customs Union and Common Market, said Mr. John Bosco Rusagara representing EABC Chairman Mr. Nick Nesbitt at the meeting.

Finalization of the comprehensive review of the EAC Common External Tariff (CET) to boost industrialization and regional value chains; the quick elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers and operationalization of the Committee …

Two years ago, Kenya’s Ministry of Health launched the malaria vaccine in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, one of the eight counties in western Kenya with the heaviest burden of malaria nationwide.

At that time, other African countries including Ghana and Malawi also launched the malaria vaccine in childhood vaccination in selected areas of high malaria transmission in 2019.
Malawi was the first to do so in April, followed by Ghana, and then by Kenya in 2019.
Malaria vaccine has now become the first to achieve WHO-specified 75 per cent efficacy goal.
According to a recent update on the vaccine by the World Health Organisation, high-level vaccine efficacy of 77% in African children achieve WHO-specified efficacy goal of 75%.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that malaria causes over 400,000 deaths each year globally and progress in reducing malaria mortality has stalled in recent years. Most deaths are amongst children in Africa …

The East Africa private sector is upbeat on the expansion of trade and investment in the region and a rejuvenated and progressive bloc, following the assumption of office of Dr. Peter Mutuku Mathuki, as the new East African Community (EAC) Secretary-General.

Dr. Mathuki, an ardent champion for the inclusion of the private sector into the regional integration agenda, has this afternoon officially taken over as the new EAC Secretary-General, for a five-year term, at the EAC Secretariat headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

“Strengthening mechanisms to resolve persistent Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) that hamper intra EAC trade, deepening implementation of the Common Market protocol and restructuring the EAC Secretariat to achieve the mandate envisaged in the Treaty are some of my key priorities,” he noted in his inauguration speech.

In his first year in office, Dr. Mathuki, outlined that he will prioritise the full operationalization of the amended EAC Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers …

It all began on March 5^th when the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) stopped any further imports of maize into Kenya with immediate effect.

This move was necessitated by the Kenyan government’s need to control the entry of unsafe maize.  According to the ministry of agriculture, previous test results for maize imported from Uganda and Tanzania revealed high levels of mycotoxins consistently beyond safety limits. Mycotoxins particularly aflatoxins and fumonisins are carcinogenic.

This move by the government cast a shadow over the shortage of maize in the country, but the ministry was quick to reassure citizens of a stable maize supply stating, “The Ministry further wishes to avert fear over alleged shortage of maize in the country. Projections up to the end of May 2021 indicate a surplus of 11,807,681 90kg bags, with the price of maize expected to remain stable.”

Currently, the wholesale maize price is averaging Sh2,600/= …

Kenyan businesses can now heave a sigh of relief after court has finally granted an injunction on minimum tax case.

In January this year, eight business associations representing the business community in Kenya have come together to call for the abolishment of the 1 per cent minimum tax introduced by the government. 

The new bill which was to take effect on 1^st  January this year was introduced through the Finance Bill, 2020 (the Bill). 

The bill was tabled in the National Assembly for debate and approval on 6 May 2020. This was a departure from previous years where finance bills would be introduced to the National Assembly after the reading of the national budget in June. This change was necessitated by recent constitutional interpretations issued by the court which barred the government from collecting taxes before the relevant tax provisions are approved by the …

Conversation on market access has always been an interesting one. especially when it involves regional trade. A lot of factors come into play when this is mentioned. A lot of information is not readily available to players to make an informed decision with, whereas for the readily available information, players do not know about this fact.

The regional business body has noticed this and has organised a workshop to iron out some of these issues. They have rolled out this project in Burundi.

In partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC), the East African Business Council (EABC) and the Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industries Burundi (CFCIB) and Association of the Traders of Burundi (ACOBU) are carrying out a workshop for trade practitioners in Burundi on the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

This workshop has been organized as part of the European Union-East African Community Market Access Programme …