OPINION: Dear Kenyans, all that Ugandans want is Fairplay in trade or at least to return the good gesture

For a long, long time, Kenya enjoyed brisk export business to Uganda, so much so that the trade deficit between Uganda and Kenya, in favour of Kenya, reached an all-time high of USD358.5 million in 2011.

This went on for a long time that Kenyans probably must have started thinking, this was their birthright.

Then, Ugandan companies, put their act together, ramping up production of most of the goods and raw materials previously imported from Kenya. Exports from Uganda grew 68% from USD298.8 million in 2011 to USD502.1 million in 2016, bringing the deficit to just USD40.7 million.

In 2017 export trade to Kenya grew a by a further USD191 million, reaching USD692.7 million and for the first time ever, Uganda registered a historic trade surplus of USD173.5 million! In 2018, Ugandan exports to Kenya, grew yet again, reaching an all-time high USD714.9 million. Even though the trade surplus declined slightly, Uganda still registered a trade surplus of USD155.6 million!

As Ugandan manufacturers spent sleepless nights churning products off the production line, the Kenyan government too, was awake but for all the wrong reasons.

In full contravention of the EAC Common Market commitments that guarantee unfettered free movement of goods and services, Kenya started frivolously blocking and sabotaging Ugandan goods for all sort of reasons, including:

1. Questioning the Origin of Uganda’s products even those with valid certificates of origin;
2. Baseless claims that products from Uganda are counterfeit notwithstanding such products bearing Q mark issued by Uganda National Bureau of Standards;
3. Claims that goods from Uganda are smuggled into Kenya hence evading taxes;
4. Institution of permits that water down the very essence of the EAC Common Market through unilateral restrictions against Uganda originating goods;
5. Structured and institutionalized pendik escort harassment of Kenyan traders and dealers in Ugandan originating goods with the view to discouraging dealing in Uganda originating goods, especially poultry, milk, sugar;
6. Impromptu stop overs and rampant raids on Ugandan warehouses or warehouses with Ugandan goods;
7. Issuance of Quotas to Ugandan made Sugar which contradicts the EAC Common Market Protocol and;
8. Institutionalizing untold uncertainty in business relations defined by unfounded allegations that prompt unending verifications whose findings that always vindicate Uganda never become basis for once and for all resolution of trade challenges. Example, Sugar and Milk impasse reigns despite several verification missions

As a result, in 2019 alone, Uganda lost USD174.8 million in export revenue- exports reduced from an all-time high of USD714.9 million to USD540.1 million. Ironically, Kenya’s exports to Uganda increased by a juicy USD225.9 million, once again reinstituting a 7-year high trade deficit of USD245 million!

Despite a January 2020, protest note by the Ugandan Government to Kenya, (that remains unanswered) Kenya remains stubborn as losses pile for Ugandan manufacturers.

Yet, Kenya is on its way to another feast on Ugandan dollars. In the nine months to September 2020, Uganda imported USD566.4 million worth of goods from Kenya, compared to a mere USD342.7 million worth of goods that Kenya allowed in from Uganda, leading Uganda to make a USD223.7 trade deficit! The measly export earning in the first 9 months of 2020 are USD270.3 million, less than the USD613 million that Uganda earned in the same period in 2018 before Kenya started to actively sabotage Ugandan exports.

According to the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) “the situation has reached worrying levels warranting tough measures to address trade issues in EAC otherwise Uganda is doomed.”

“The Kenyan market situation is not helped by the not so pleasant United Republic of Tanzania incessant tariff tinkering that also breaches the EAC Common Market commitments. The Rwanda scenario has only effectively shrunk Uganda’s market share for the EAC and one wonders if the EAC still makes any sense when Partner States just continue to mistreat Uganda in every respect,” UMA said in a recent media statement.

UMA said the media statement, was a culmination of “untold frustration by the Government of Uganda in the pursuit for equity from EAC Partner States.”

“Yes, Uganda believes in regional integration. However, Uganda must also benefit from the integration process. UMA thus demands that the Government of Uganda changes tactics to retaliate against Partner States that breach the EAC Common Market Protocol through blocking Ugandan originating goods into their markets. UMA expects action before Christmas Day,” UMA further said.

Well, enough said; for now.