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