Uganda rejects plan to collect revenue at sea coast

By Charles Kazooba

Uganda has rejected a regional plan to start collecting revenue at the coast; especially at the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.

In an attempt to fast-track a single customs authority, it had been suggested by the heads of state of the five partner states in April last year that revenue be collected at points of entry into the region to create transparency in the management of the revenue by EAC member states.

But Uganda has expressed unwillingness to surrender her sovereign powers over import taxes to the East African Community customs authorities, which is likely to be a major setback to the integration process.

In a research published mid April and commissioned by TradeMark East Africa, the business community and government bureaucrats said the Uganda Revenue Authority should continue assessing and collecting revenue on goods imported into the country in total disregard of the Heads of State’s position.

“Traders are concerned that once they pay at the port of entry, the Uganda government will lose interest in guaranteeing safety of their goods from the ports to the point of destiny,” said Dr Paul Bagabo, a co-author of the research findings.

A destination model was adopted for revenue management by heads of state in April 2012. The model entails collection of customs revenue and other levies on goods imported from outside the region at the first point of entry and remitted to the destination country.

This means that Uganda and other East African member states would have to relinquish their powers to collect taxes to EAC customs authorities at Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports.

The research recommended that the importer of the goods in the country of final destination prepare a declaration on the value and quantity of goods to the port of first entry electronically through an integrated customs management system from any location.

Should Uganda’s position be upheld by the EAC Summit, it is unlikely that a single customs territory will be attained very soon.

Currently, ports (points of entry) handle over 80 per cent of the imports for Uganda and are thus critical for economic development and growth in the country. Cargo volumes increased by about 12 per cent in the first six months of 2012.

Uganda’s imports from both EAC partner states and other trading partners grew by more than two fold from 2005 to 2011. Subsequently, duty revenue steadily increased from about Ush935.6billion ($362,584,294.4) in 2005 to about Ush3.6 trillion ($1.4bn) in 2011.

Because partner states operate different currencies for payment of customs duties, differences in payment of duties (Ugandans paid according to cash flow—installments), collection of duties through commercial banks, the researchers recommended that Uganda continues to assess and collect revenue on goods imported into the country.

Under this arrangement, importers make payment for common external tariff based on the valuation of goods to a designated commercial bank in the country of final destination.

Thereafter, provisions should be put in place to enable goods to be released into the region at the first point of entry.

‘New NTBs are taking over in EAC’

By Charles Kazooba

Trade amongst the East African Community partner states has steadily risen in terms of volume because of efforts to track down all barriers. In the case of non-tariff barriers research by various institutions indicate a drastic improvement, however, in an interview with Mr Kassim Omar (in picture), a clearing agent and board member of the East African Business Council new NTBs have cropped.

Qn: What is the status of non-tariff barriers?

Ans: A lot has been achieved but also a lot has evolved in terms of new non-tariff barriers (NTBs). The National Monitoring Committee (NMC) has created a difference in the manner in which NTBs occur. The platform and manner of tackling NTBs is more pronounced. There is marked awareness on NTBs. The National Monitoring Committee has engaged with policy makers (government agencies in charge) on the NMC board.

However, the cost of doing business in the region has remained high. There are shipping companies that have formed cartels—imposing arbitrary charges and maintaining hidden costs such as equipment costs, management fees, amendment fees, and delivery order fees.

Arbitrary charges constitute approximately $800-1000 per etu are the biggest impediment to trade along the northern and central corridors. These new forms of NTBs are not given due attention by governments and attributes to very high costs of products.

Unfortunately, the whole region is focused on ways reducing transport costs on routes but aren’t aware of the syndicates in logistics value chain are major contributors. These shipping companies are imposing these charges with impunity and a very high level of recklessness that is unchecked and unmonitored.

Many organizations from the private sector that include; shippers’ councils, freight forwarders associations, inter-government standing committees in shipping, Northern Corridor transit Transport Coordination Authority, the Central Corridor Authority, Kampala City Traders Association and Chambers of Commerce have raised these concerns time and again in various fora and at different levels in government but no drastic measures have been instituted to curb this trend.

Qn: I understand last year the private sector in joint efforts with government launched a national response strategy to eliminate the NTBs, what is the progress?

Ans: The national response strategy for elimination of NTBs is a project that was under the Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives and is funded by Trade Mark East Africa. The project has multi-thronged objectives to deal with NTBs affecting the business community in Uganda. Similar projects are currently funded in partner states. The key objective of this project is to address and engage all stakeholders including other government agencies to eliminate NTBs. The project so far is in high gear.

Qn: So far, what is the impact of this measure towards NTBs on Uganda’s economy?

Ans: The major impact was when the issue of cash bonds arose last year and resulted in a lot of concerted effort by government and awareness by the business community for its removal.

Qn: In your opinion what is the long-term solution to settle the disharmony between the business community and Mombasa Port authorities?

Ans: Landlocked countries should today form maritime authorities under the public-private partnership framework, which can deal with matters of transport and shipping of cargo from within and outside their countries by engaging closely with other maritime authorities in countries that have access to ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

The two countries to engage are Kenya and Tanzania who already have maritime authorities that handle and negotiate issues related to ports, costs of transport, clearing and forwarding agents, standards and regulations within logistic chains. These maritime authorities are statutory organizations that have mandate to ensure that commitments from stakeholders are effected and adapted as laws. In Kenya, it is Kenya Maritime Authority and Tanzania, Surface and Maritime Transport Regulatory Authority that are in charge.

Qn: Therefore, why have governments in the so called landlocked countries established maritime authorities?

Ans: This is a new concept. It is our last resort since shipping lines are on rampage of cheating traders and no solution is in sight yet.

Qn: Weighbridges are still a major hindrance to trade, when shall we see the last of them?

Ans: We need to accept weighbridges are important controls that are essential for management and maintenance of good roads in our countries. However, when they are mismanaged through collusion of individuals who are seeking financial gains then the very essence of having weighbridges becomes null and void.

The importance of weighbridges in ensuring that misuse of roads by excessive loading of trucks is curtailed contributes highly to sustainable good roads. But corruption and manipulation of the weighing scales led to a public outcry because of selective manner in which case of misuse was handled.

However, the weighbridges in EAC today will soon be harmonized in terms of axle load limit and gross vehicle mass controls as soon as the road axle load policy is passed. It was agreed transit cargo in Kenya be weighed twice only and in Uganda to be weighed twice i.e. port of origin and exit within transiting country. However, in Tanzania it was agreed that transit cargo can be weighed three times because of demographic setting of the country and size. Currently, this isn’t yet in practice.

East Africa enacts law to reduce border congestion

By Charles Kazooba

The East African parliament has passed a law that will tremendously reduce congestion at all border points in the region to boost cross-border trade.

The East Africa Legislative Assembly on April 23passed the One Stop Border Posts Bill, 2012, paving way for it to become Community Law once assented to by the EAC Heads of State.

The object of the Bill, initiated by the EAC Council of Ministers, is to provide for the establishment of One Stop Border Posts (OSBP) in the Community in order to facilitate trade through the efficient movement of goods and people within the Community. 

Under the arrangement, Partner States shall implement one stop border processing arrangements by establishing and designating control zones at the respective border posts.

Bureaucracy at border points is costing East Africa $7 million for each hour of delay in a year, according to a survey by Padeco Co. Limited.

The researchers found that trucks take five days to cover the 1,100 kilometres from Mombasa to Kampala - with 19 hours being spent on crossing borders and weighbridges.

The Bill in addition seeks to extend Partner States’ national laws relating to border control officers of adjoining Partner States permitting their free movement within the controlled zone(s) in the performance of their duties, without producing passports, but by simply producing their appropriate identity. 

The Bill makes provision for the application of border control laws and provides for institutional arrangements in the co-ordination and monitoring of the one stop border posts. 

 In so doing however, the Bill does not affect the rights of any adjoining Partner State(s) to take temporary measures in the interest of defence, security, public safety and public order.

Common Border posts designated in the EAC as One Stop Border Posts include the Taveta-Holili border and the Namanga border (Kenya-Tanzania), Busia and Malaba borders (Kenya – Uganda) and the Kanyaru-Akanyaru border (Burundi-Rwanda). 

Others are the Mutukula border (Tanzania-Uganda), Gasenyi-Nemba border (Burundi, Rwanda) and Lungalunga-Horohoro border (Kenya –Tanzania).

The one stop border posts law comes at the heels of the launch of the electronic cargo clearance system in the region.kazcharlie@yahoo.com

Tanzanian drags EAC to court over political federation

By Charles Kazooba

An ordinary Tanzanian citizen is challenging the East African Community Summit decisions among which a directive to the bloc’s Secretary General that a model structure for political federation should be proposed.

The East African Court of Justice First Instance Division in its first session on April 18 heard that Timothy Alvin Kahoho was challenging a number of directives by the 13th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State held in Burundi in November 2011, which included a proposal for an action plan on a draft model of the structure of the East African Political Federation.

The other directives being challenged are; conclusion of the protocol on immunities and privileges for the East African Community Organs and Institutions; producing a roadmap for establishment and strengthening of institutions identified by a team of experts as critical for the functioning of the Customs Union, Common Market and Monetary Union and formulation of an action plan for the purpose of operationalizing the other recommendations in a report of a team of experts.

Kahoho submitted that the 13^th Summit was wrong to mandate the Secretariat to carry out the duties as per the above directives contravening Article 11(5) of the Treaty for Establishment of the East African Community.

The Article provides that “Subject to this Treaty, the Summit may delegate the exercise of any of its functions, subject to any conditions which it may think fit to impose to a member of the Summit, to the Council or to the Secretary General.

But Kahoho contended that the process of political federation had not been initiated by the Summit and that the process should ensure that the East African citizens are involved and not to be left to the EAC Organs alone to determine their destiny.

The Applicant also said that the action by the Summit of directing the Secretariat on issues related to immunities and privileges was wrong as it does not fall under areas of cooperation where a protocol can be established but falls under Article 73 which is out of areas for cooperation as provided in the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC.

He therefore sought for orders to restrain the East African Community Secretariat from carrying out activities geared towards the realization of the East African Political Federation. That the directives of the 13th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State held in Burundi in November 2011, for being an infringement of Article 11 (5) and 73 of the EAC Treaty and he asked the Court to find the Summit contravened the Treaty.

Dr. Anthony Kafumbe representing the Secretary General of the EAC submitted that, the process of Political Federation was started by the Council. He argued that the team of experts report was at the instance of the Council and not the Secretariat. 

He added that when the Summit initiates the process, it can’t do anything else, but delegate to the Council and the Secretariat to follow up the process and report back.

Dr. Kafumbe argued that there was no contravention of the Treaty and that the contention of excluding the Council of Ministers in the Political Federation process is not true and the process is ongoing.

He also told Court that the draft protocol on immunities and privileges concerns the conditions of EAC Staff which addresses the inconsistencies in the Partner States EAC headquarters agreements. 

He therefore asked the Court to dismiss the case.

kazcharlie@yahoo.com

UN failed Rwanda, says East African parliament

By Charles Kazoobakazcharlie@yahoo.com

The East African Parliament has castigated the United Nations over its failure to prevent the Genocide against the Tutsi, nineteen years ago, despite having a presence in Rwanda at the time of the conflict.

Consequently, EALA has passed a Resolution to Commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi and urged the EAC Council of Ministers to designate April 7 every year, as the EAC Day of Reflection on Genocide against the Tutsi.

The Resolution in part admonishes the UN for its decision then, to reduce the numbers of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) troops, leading to the deaths of close to a million in Rwanda including thousands of those that had sought refuge at the UNAMIR sanctuary.  

This, the Resolution states, was done despite a UN Resolution of 21/912 which had adjusted UNAMIR’s mandate and Resolution 918 (1994) that expanded the force.

The Resolution moved by Hon Abubakar Zein Abubakar on April 18^th at a sitting in Kigali, takes cognisance, of the fact that the UN General Assembly globally adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the crime of genocide against humanity on December 9^th, 1948.  

EALA also resolved to support the decision of the Council of Ministers to ensure that all the archives of the International Court of Tribunal of Rwanda are transferred to Rwanda.

The Assembly, however, reports of the saddening yet growing intention of denial with regards to Genocide against the Tutsi and the widespread hate speech through media and other relevant channels worldwide.

When debate opened, Hon Patricia Hajabakiga remarked that Rwanda’s civil society and the National Commission had acknowledged EALA’s support during the commemoration period.   Hon Nancy Abisai remarked that perhaps the EAC (had it been re-established) would probably have halted the horrendous act.

She remarked that certain emotive issues such as land, religion and ethnicity though factors that embrace unity, could spiral negatively, if not handled well and called for home-grown solutions to the challenges facing the region.

The Assembly declared its solidarity with the people and the government of Rwanda as they commemorate the 19^thanniversary of the callous act.  The Assembly states that the ideology of genocide should never be allowed and it is important for East Africans to build capacity to halt any future genocide and plan for the region’s common future.  It thus envisages holding a regional conference to that effect.

ADB reinforces East African region with $232.5m road financing

 By Charles Kazooba

The African Development Bank has approved two loans totaling US$232.5 million for the 157.5-kilometre road project from Arusha to Holili in Tanzania, and Taveta to Voi in Kenya, in an effort to reduce the cost of transport and enhance access to agricultural inputs, larger markets and social services within the East Africa Community.

Kenya will receive $113.12m of the two loans approved by the AfDB Board, while Tanzania will be awarded $120 m. The Bank facility constitutes 89.1 per cent of the total project cost.

The project, which is expected to be completed by December 2018, is also jointly financed by the Governments of Kenya and Tanzania both contributing $15.6m and $12.3m, respectively. The Africa Trade Fund has extended a $0.74m grant for a small component for trade facilitation at the Namanga border, bringing to USD 262.2 million the total cost of the project.

The Arusha-Holili/Taveta-Voi Road is a transport corridor of the East African Region that links the Northern Corridor at Voi to the Central Corridor across the common border at Holili/Taveta through Arusha, Babati to Dodoma and Singida.

The project will comprise civil works for the construction of the Arusha Bypass (42.4 km) and dualling the Sakina-Tengeru section (14.1 km) as well as the construction of two roadside amenities at Tengeru, one on either side of the dual carriageway in Tanzania.

It will also involve the upgrading of the Taveta-Mwatate portion (89 km) and construction of the Taveta Bypass (12 km) and two roadside amenities, one each at Bura and Maktau along the Mwatate-Taveta Road in Kenya.

AfDB’s Regional Director for the East Africa Resource Centre, Gabriel Negatu, confirmed the loan approval, explaining that the road had been identified in the East African Regional Integration Strategy Paper (RISP 2011-2015) and the East African Transport Strategy and Regional Road Sector Development Programme of November 2011 as a priority for intervention.

“The East African Community seeks to improve regional transport infrastructure to support economic and social development programs in the region, promote tourism and foster regional integration and at the same time reduce the cost of doing business by supporting cross-border and international trade,” Negatu said.kazcharlie@yahoo.com

Kagame intensifies campaign for United States of Africa

By Charles Kazooba

The campaign by African political leaders to integrate the 52 small African states into a United States of Africa has gained steam with Rwanda President Paul Kagame calling for an urgent response to the quest for one government for the world’s second largest continent.

President Kagame while opening the 5^th meeting of the 1st session of the 3rd Assembly at the Parliament of Rwanda in Kigali, Rwanda said continental unity and integration would insure, “against denial of our ability to play our rightful role in the world.”

“Africa presents us with immense opportunities for further economic growth and a stronger voice in the international arena,” he emphasized on Tuesday 16.

Ever since the cold murder of Libya President Muammar Qaddafi, the lead architect of the USA project, many African leaders today appreciate the integration of Africans.

In fact, in January this year, talked of the ‘president of Africa’ even though no agreement has been reached to consolidate the different blocs in Africa into one state let alone the put forwards how governance structures would appear.

The Zimbabwean president claimed a continental bloc united under one figurehead was needed to move Africa into global superleague.

"Get them to get out of the regional shell and get into one continental shell," he reportedly said in January.

"The continent of Africa: this is what we must become. And there, we must also have an African head. He was talking of the president of Africa. Yes, we need one. We are not yet there. This is what we must go and discuss, but we must also discuss the issues that divide us."

At the time Muammar Qaddafi traversed the continent pushing for his idea of one Africa one government many of his peers rubbished his idea as a populist gimmick intended to keep him in political power and act as leverage to balance international politics.

Actually, his campaign later put him on a collision course with emerging leaders on the continent causing most times a diplomatic rift between his government and other African entities.

For instance, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni requested American protection for fear that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would shoot down his plane, after a deep disagreement between the two heavy weights of Africa, according to a leaked US embassy cable has revealed.

The two leaders disagreed over the political and economic future of Africa. President Museveni said he and former South African leader Thabo Mbeki, whom he blames for not offering an alternative to Libya’s approach, were then working together to counter the union proposal.

It is also believed Gaddafi’s worked for the downfall of Mbeki. However, some leaders supported the Gaddafi’s idea but others urged the slow development of different economic communities and allegiances.  

But Kagame has argued that since Africa remains the most economically viable and vibrant continent it is important to tap the resources under one government.

“Africa is the only region where GDP has been growing at an average of 5% per year for the last few years. We have the world’s largest reserve of natural resources. Our population is youthful and increasingly has more money to spend.

“These are opportunities that we cannot permit others to benefit from more than us.  However, to get maximum benefits from this situation demands that we increase the level of intra-African trade and investment and extend integration across the continent – starting, of course, as we have done at regional level,” he said.

He added that in order to get the most out of regional and continental integration, it was crucial to address concerns like commitments on the free movement of people, labour and services, which have not been fully or evenly implemented across the region.

kazcharlie@yahoo.comkazcharlie@yahoo.com

American firm pulls out of Uganda over GMO law

By Charles Kazooba

Monsanto, a United States based, multinational, agribusiness Company, is suspending its biotechnology research to develop genetically modified cotton in Uganda because of the delay in the enactment of an enabling law that is supposed to pave way for commercial production.

Instead, the biotech firm will be concentrating on the neighbouring Kenya and other African markets where there is unquestionable cooperation but also a proper legal framework.

“We prioritize biotech research in countries where there is broad farmer and political support for GMOs as well as a functioning, science-based regulatory system to govern their use. A year ago we determined that other countries were further advanced than Uganda in these respects,” revealed Brandon Mitchener, a communications spokesperson for Europe and Middle-East, in an email correspondence on April 12.

It is believed that Monsanto could have halted their operations after realizing that without a proper legal framework it would not be possible for them to claim their royalty rights.

In the past, Monsanto has sued farmers for growing crops that cross-pollinated with Monsanto crops and became contaminated with the company's patented genetic codes yet they are not legally obliged.
For over a decade now Uganda is processing a law that would facilitate the use of genetically modified organisms in crop farming, drug manufacture and industrial use.

But since the inception of the biotech legal framework in 2000 critics have urged government to abandon their attempts to protect small scale farmers, who make the biggest contribution to Uganda’s economy.

“Subjecting the agricultural sector to the imperatives of the agro-industry and its GMO-model will gradually destroy traditional family farming, local seed systems and Ugandan food. The massive introduction of GMO’s will increase family farmer’s dependency on agro-industry, because they will be obliged to buy costly patented seeds and expensive fertilizers,” argues Morris Rwakakamba, the Chief Executive Officer of Agency for Transformation.

The Chairman of the parliamentary committee on Science and Technology, Hon. Dennis Obua (Ajuri County-NRM), that was tasked with reviewing the draft law last week told journalists attending the biotech media fellowship that it was upon the scientists to lobby MPs to hasten the process of enactment. The draft biotech law is still stuck with Obua’s committee, which has yet to conduct public hearings.

A Ugandan official working the Cotton Development Organisation had earlier told  News of EastAfrica, in an interview during Biosciences for Farming in Africa media fellowship in Kampala at Munyonyo Resort Hotel from April 9 to 13 that Monsanto has “stopped talking to us” because of the parliamentary ping pong between the Executive and Parliament over the biotech draft law.

“In 2012, Monsanto just kept quiet. There hasn’t been official communication from them but what we hear is that they have suspended their operations because there is no law here (to facilitate commercial production of genetically modified seeds.),” said Dr Serunjogi Lastus Katende, a plant breeder/technical advisor with Cotton Development Organisation.

Dr Serunjogi, who also happens to have been a Member of eighth Parliament and vice chairman of the parliamentary committee of agriculture that was tasked to scrutinize the National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill-2012 and come up with a good law, claims the Bill delayed passing because most MPs were ignorant of the biotech industry.

Monsanto, after, successfully completing the process of stacking (joining) the genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton and Herbicide-tolerant (Ht), suspended the next stage involving the introgression of the gene into farmer preferred cotton varieties.

Bt cotton has the ability to withstand bollworm infestation, and Ht cotton tolerates RoundUp herbicide which kills weeds. Currently, the bollworm is the greatest threat affecting cotton production in Uganda. The second greatest threat is weed infestation.

In Uganda, Monsanto’s level of research was quite ahead and successful compared to Kenya. So it is possible that if Uganda passed the biotech law sooner than later Mansanto could reconsider its decision.

Leading biotech companies like Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow are currently racing to develop crops that will grow in drought conditions caused by climate change, and by participating in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) program, Monsanto is, however, gaining a leg up by establishing new markets and regulatory approvals for its patented transgenes in five Sub-Saharan African countries including South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique.

The WEMA program was launched in 2008 with a $47 million grant from mega-rich philanthropists Warrant Buffet and Bill Gates to help farmers in several African countries increase their yields with drought- and heat-tolerant corn varieties.  

The introduction of biotechnology has been one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last decade and is shaping the future of the entire agricultural industry world-wide. 

Over the last five years, there has been a remarkable growth in Monsanto’s global business as 12 million farmers around the world have selected the company’s seeds and trait technologies to help them meet the challenges they face on their farms.

kazcharlie@yahoo.com

Uganda reviews bad laws to boost East Africa’s trade

By Charles Kazooba

Uganda is discarding all unfavourable business legal provisions and beefing up the legal framework with better ones to attract investment and facilitate Ugandan traders intending to do business, which will further step up its competitiveness.

The East Africa country is not only attempting to unlock from a colonial era legal web that discourages investment but is also amending the laws to harmonize with the Common Market Protocol.

A consultant hired by the Uganda Law Reform Commission Ms Olive Zaale Otete, a Director of Legislative Drafting and Research Consultants, has intimated that at least 20 critical legal provisions scattered in various laws that have hindered better trade have been reviewed to enable the East African Community trade as one market and compete with other regional markets.

Ms Otete told The EastAfrican after a consultative meeting on alignment of Ugandan laws with the EAC Common Market Protocol in Kampala on April 3 that they would encourage an Ominibus Bill carrying all the proposed amendments to be tabled before parliament this year.

“We are looking at laws that are robust and need overhaul. EAC Member states should look at laws that help it to compete with external markets instead of creating an environment for internal competition,” elaborated Allen Asiimwe of TradeMark East Africa.

Uganda, which is today ranked by the World Bank as the second most attractive destination in the region in doing business, is particularly overhauling the immigration law and amending the investment (code) law to stop discrimination against other East Africans and enable free movement of persons.

The Uganda Investment Code Act for instance requires that foreign investors including East Africans, who intend to engage in business, deposit $100,000 with the Bank of Uganda, which can only be released specifically for purchasing trade goods.

Under immigration, Uganda also still issues work permits to other East Africans although other partner states like Rwanda and Kenya have abandoned the practice. It is such trade barriers that are being discarded under the new legal regime.

“If trading is what we want as Uganda then we need better laws to move in tandem with the other partner states,” Prof Agasha Mugasha, the chairperson of Uganda Law Reform Commission, a body scrutinizing the country’s laws, told The EastAfrican at the same consultative meeting.

The EAC Council of Ministers directed all EAC member states to harmonize their legal regimes with the Common Market Protocol by June 30 this year.

The other laws being reviewed in Uganda include those that establish business and attract investment, which include the Companies Act, Contract Act, Business Names Registration; those that enable movement of labour like the External Trade Act and the Immigration Act; laws that regulate movement of services like the Employment Act, the Labour Union Act and Workers Compensation Act.

Details of particularly amendments remain undisclosed until various government departments have sufficiently attended to the proposals, said Ms Otete.

However, it is unlikely that Uganda, which emerged the second investment destination in the trading bloc beating Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi in the latest World Bank survey, will meet the June 30 deadline when every other partner state is expected to have reviewed their laws.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has said economic growth in East Africa is expected to remain among the fastest in Africa this year, estimating a six per cent growth rate compared to 5.6 per cent in 2012—the second highest for the continent this year.

Also, a new favourable national legal framework with a regional perspective is expected to enhance regional legislation passed by the East African Legislative Assembly.

For instance, the One Stop Border Post and the Vehicle Load Control Bills, which once passed into law, will enable movement of goods and services within East Africa are some some of the laws likely to spur the economic growth of the country.

The EAC Vehicle Overload Control Bill aims to give the region a uniform axle load limit of 56 tonnes, while the One Stop Border Posts Bill, 2012 will legislate the operation of the planned one-stop border posts.

Under the One Stop Border Post concept, all traffic would stop once in each direction of travel, facilitating faster movement of persons and goods and allow border control officers from both sides from the two partner states to conduct joint inspection.