Author: Kawira Mutisya

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade area which was founded in 2018, has seen the agreement take effect in January this year.

AfCFTA was created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union nations. Now Kenyan manufacturers have urged government and relevant agencies to urgently address gaps in trade facilitation following the commencement of trade under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

This was during a webinar on the status of implementation of AfCFTA, hosted by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) in partnership with National Trade Facilitation Agencies, including Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and Kenya Trade Agency (KenTrade).

Speaking during the session, KAM Chair, Mr Mucai Kunyiha, recognized the challenges and opportunities in AfCFTA.

According to the world bank, the AfCFTA presents a major opportunity for African countries to bring 30 million people …

Kenya-based Software Group has partnered with BRAC Uganda Bank Ltd. (BRAC) to rollout market-leading agency banking digital platform. 

Software Group’s technology will support the bank’s plans to extend its outreach to under-served areas through agency banking, providing highly convenient, digital financial services closer to customers. 

Also Read: Scaling Africa’s tech ventures that exited this past decade

Adopting the market-leading agency banking platform, the bank will be offering a rich set of services to go live during the course 2021, available outside of normal office hours and close to where their customers are, providing greater convenience, boosting trust during the COVID-19 era by reducing in-branch congestion, and mobilizing customer deposits while reducing operational costs. 

Delivered in an AGILE delivery model, which enables a rapid time-to-market, Software Group’s agency banking platform allows BRAC to scale its points of sale rapidly without investing …

The African Union has lauded Kenya’s move to to adopt the Africa CDC Trusted Travel platform for Managing travels through the Covid -19 Pandemic.

This follows the announcement by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe of the adoption of the platform, making Kenya the first country to take it up.

“The ministry has collaborated with the African Union and Africa CDC, with technical support from PanaBios to implement an online system to authenticate and verify laboratory test certificates for travelers,”  Kagwe noted.

The move is set to ease movement of people by  simplifying verification of public health documentation of travelers during entry and exit across borders.

Also read: Emerging trends in Air Travel industry 

The portal’s key features include information about the latest travel restrictions, and entry requirements, a database of authorized laboratories and vaccination compliance information, as well as Africa CDC mutual recognition protocol for Covid-19 testing and test results …

Better prepare East Africa: desert locust threat is not over 

By Kawira Mutisya 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is seeking funding to continue with its fight against desert locusts in Eastern African countries affected by the menace.  

Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan continue facing a threat from the desert locusts.  According to a statement from FAO, action to control unprecedented desert locust infestations in the Horn of Africa last year has succeeded in protecting crops and livelihoods. The UN agency is now seeking $38 million funding to sustain operations against new incursions and continue work in these countries.   

FAO says that this is urgent because without this support, the 28 aircraft that patrol the skies to spot and spray swarms could be grounded as early as March. 

In the latest desert locust invasion update by FAO, swarms continue to invade the Horn of …

The East African Community (EAC) economy will is expected to rebound in 2021. But this will only happen , if EAC Partner States Governments strengthen macro-economic policy coordination and adopt a regional coordinated approach in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, a regional business body has said.

According to the East African Business Council (EABC) secretariat, COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 provided a learning curve, on the need to have sustainable EAC regional value chains integration for the development of finished products with a view of reducing industrial and trade risks arising out of external shocks.

EABC Chairman Mr. Nick Nesbitt noted that the region is projected to recover steadily but it was dependent on how the pandemic is handled.

According to the AfDB East Africa Economic Outlook 2020, the East Africa region is projected to recover to 3.7 percent in the baseline scenario and 2.8 percent in the worst-case scenario under the …

Regional business umbrella body has called for harmonization of COVID-19 charges to boost intra EAC trade. 

The East African Business Council (EABC) has said that in a bid to ease the cost of doing business and boost intra-EAC trade emerging costs such as the COVID-19 related charges in the East African Community should be standardized.  This is set to support businesses to be more resilient and rebound amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Also Read: Kenya’s president calls on African leaders to harmonise Covid protocols

This comes days after Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta called on African leaders to harmonise COVID-19 protocols.  According to the president, harmonising the protocols will determine whether the African Union (AU) meetings will be virtual or physical given the challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Currently, COVID-19 tests are priced differently in each Partner State, while containment measures are varied. For instance, Tanzania …

Kenya’s exporters of fresh produce are expected to begin paying at least four times the Agricultural Produce Cess effective 1st January 2021.

In a letter, sent on 30th December last year by the Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD) to the industry directs all exporters of horticultural products to pay from 1st January 2021 Agricultural Produce Cess based on the free on board (f.o.b) value and not the quantity in line with the new Horticulture (Crops) Regulations.

But the Kenya Flower Council (KFC) is calling on the government to weigh the benefit against the costs of this new regulation that has already been implemented.

According to the KFC Chief Executive Officer Mr Clement Tulezi, this poses a big threat to the recovery of the country’s flower sector.

Also Read: Why over 7000 Kenyan Flower farmers are getting funded

“Hope for quick recovery of Kenya’s flower industry will diminish as government arbitrarily increases …

A regional business umbrella body has called upon East Africa’s partner states to harmonise investment incentives and market the region as a single investment destination. 

The East African Business Council (EABC) is counting on the six heads of EAC member states to merge marketing of the bloc and attract investors in the various opportunities available. One of the aspects the EABC recommends is harmonising incentives to make it easier for investors to pick the bloc from the rest of the continent.  

East Africa has often been referred to as one of the fastest growing trading blocs in Africa. With a population of more than 177.2 million people the region presents a readily available demand for products and services that emerge from the prospective investments. The region also has a combined GDP size of more than US$147.5 billion. 

A recent report by South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank …

A bill seeking to provide guidelines to the transboundary movement of livestock as well as control of animal diseases within East Africa is in the offing.  

This comes after East African Legislative Assembly member Dr. Woda Jeremiah Odok introduced the envisaged EAC Livestock Bill 2020. 

If effected, the bill will grant a coordinated identification, characterization, mapping and enumeration of livestock.  It will also strengthen the detection, prevention and control of transboundary animal diseases and provide for a regulatory framework to monitor pastoral ecosystems.  

Livestock sector in EAC 

To understand why this bill is important one must appreciate the bloc’s livestock sector’s potential. East Africa’s livestock sector generates more than US$1 billion annually through the export of live animals and meat to the Middle East and North Africa. 

Livestock is primarily owned by pastoralists in East Africa, who mainly own camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. 

According to a recently …

Eight business associations representing the business community in Kenya have come together to call for the abolishment of the 1% minimum tax introduced by the government. 

The new bill expected to take effect on 1st January next 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 National Assembly, and a subsequent amendment to the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 which required that the Finance Act be enacted by 30 June. 

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