Author: admin

{{The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has asked partner states to speed up removal of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to create a conducive business environment in the region.}}

Rwanda has always been pushing for the removal of such non tariff Barriers to enable quick flow of goods into the country. Rwanda nearly imports its goods from EAC member states.

Chairperson of the Committee on Communications, Trade and Investments, Dr James Ndahiro, noted that NTBs had by and large created a negative impact on trade expansion efforts in the region.

“The NTB issue has necessitated the need for inculcating a common, comprehensive and holistic approach for the elimination of NTBs,” noted Ndahiro when presenting latest findings of a recent workshop report on NTBs held in Kigali, Rwanda, at the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) opening session in Arusha on Tuesday.

This is the fifth and final two-week Assembly sitting before a new (third) Parliament is sworn in on June 5. The report points to a number of NTBs facing the business community in the region including congestion in issuing bonds, weighbridges especially in the northern and central corridors, lack of implementation of cargo tracking systems limiting movement of goods and corruption affecting major players at the border points.

Kenya is the current chair of the EAC Summit of Heads of State. Tanzania, he said, is yet to decide how many bridges to have, but Kenya has decided to have two.

{{A newly passed Resolution urges the EAC Council of Ministers to engage the European Union (EU) to address pertinent concerns and contentious issues raised by the Assembly, prior to the conclusion of the talks.}}

According to the Resolution, EAC suffers from chronic supply-side constraints and challenges and if implemented, the economic bloc stands to lose tariff revenue amounting to approximately USD 301 million yearly. Kenya alone, shall lose tariff revenue amounting to USD 193.8 Million a year.

The resoliution was passed Wednesday by The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

The Assembly is calling for a status report by the Secretary General every four months until the deliberations of the EPA talks are concluded and signed.

The Resolution was read by Hon Gervase Akhaabi on behalf of its mover, Hon Dr James Ndahiro. The Assembly once again raised a number of areas of concern in the on-going EPA.

The Assembly cited among other areas, the high level of liberalisation the EU is asking of the EAC and noted that the Most Favoured Nations (MFN) Clause would have an impact on the ability to have south-south co-operation and other trade agreements.

Other concerns that the Assembly mentioned include: Europe’s refusal to integrate additional and binding agreements and the refusal of the EU to address their yearly 80+billion Euro domestic support even as they want EAC to develop commercial agriculture markets in the region.

During debate, Hon Mugisha Muntu reiterated the need for the Council to pay particular attention to the EAC-EPA talks. He said the House had intervened on a number of times on the EPA talks in an attempt to right the concerns in the agreement.

Hon Muntu cited the example of the over 2900 tariff lines for which the EAC lacks local production capacity saying it was time for the region to implement the EAC Industrialisation Plan. Such plans and policies the legislator added, would guide the region in its negotiations with bilateral and multilateral partners.

Hon Kimura on her part noted that the Republic of Kenya as a non- Least Developing Country (LDC) would lack access to certain quotas that other Partner States in the EAC would access. She urged the Council of Ministers to engage their counterparts in Europe so that information sharing and experiences are shared.

‘There is need for mutual relationship between the region and Europe and not merely a one-sided arrangement’, Hon Kimura noted. The legislator urged the House to pass the Resolution and to forward the same to the European Parliament.

On her part, Hon Safina Kwekwe stated that the EAC and other African countries have supply challenges and that market entry was hampered despite the access on paper. ‘We have access due to the Cotonou agreement and the AGOA but I am not sure this has translated to market entry. I am not sure the European market shall change this mode once we sign the EPAs’, Hon Kwekwe remarked.

The EAC Secretary General, Amb. Richard Sezibera noted that the EAC negotiators had already taken into consideration the concerns that Members expressed on the floor and that the desire of the EAC to address the same had partly led to the delay in completion of the talks.

Amb Sezibera noted the region had requested for amendment on Market Access Regulation (EC 1528/2007). The Secretary General affirmed that there was no stalemate in the technical negotiations but added in certain areas the negotiators were yet to arrive at consensus, one of which is the MFN clause.

The Secretary General stated that during the briefing session of Permanent Secretaries on the EAC-EU- EPA negotiations held in Mombasa, Kenya on 14th May 2012, the Permanent Secretaries noted that Economic and Development Co-operation (EDC) is the cornerstone of the EPA negotiations.

They ascertained that areas of divergence should be taken up to the political levels where the policy makers could engage with their counterparts in the key EU Member States.

On the impact of EPAs on regional trade and production, the Secretary General informed the House that the EAC would liberalise 82% o its market access offer to the EU through a gradual reduction over a 25 year period and noted that such reductions would be based on the Common External Tariff (CET).

The Secretary General noted that 17.4% of EAC imports from EU were excluded from liberalisation to shore up promotion of food security, contribution to government revenue and trade competitiveness. Products include live meat, dairy produce, honey, eggs, live trees, cut flowers and ornamental foliage among others.

Amb Sezibera said the implication of market offer on agricultural development was not affected by the EPAs since they are excluded from liberalisation. In the long run, he said only seven products sourced from the EU shall be liberalised.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC in Uganda, Rt. Hon Eriya Kategaya reminded the House that it was important for the region to continue to negotiate as a bloc. He stated that the EPAs should give the region an opportunity to collectively negotiate on what it wants since the objective of integration was to enable the EAC to transform its economies.

This is the fourth Resolution passed by EALA on EPAs. In February 2009, a Resolution urging the Council to review the process of EPAs was tabled by Hon Valerie Nyirahabineza. In December 2010, Hon Dr Ndahiro moved a Resolution adopting a Position paper of the Committee of Communications, Trade and Investment urging the EAC to pursue a position on the EAC-EU papers.

Last year in May, Dr Ndahiro again moved a Resolution on EPAs. This time, the Resolution to the Council of Ministers sought to correct the record on EALA’s position on the EPA funding as used to seek a Summit directive to the 9th EAC Summit of Heads of State.

{{Over 1856 illiterate citizens from Gatsibo and Nyagatare districts participated in an oral- provisional driving test on Tuesday at the first ever special motor cycle driving test in Eastern Province.}}

All the participants passed the oral test and later undertook practical riding tests.

Traffic Police Commander, Chief Superintendent (CSP) Celestin Twahirwa said, “the new system of conducting driving tests was part of Traffic Police efforts to ensure road safety is maintained in all parts of the country.”

The test was organized to facilitate people in Eastern province who initially operate motor cycles in their daily activities but, do not have driving licenses simply because they cannot read and write in order to undergo the normal driving exam.

CSP Twahirwa noted that acquiring driving license by the illiterate will help them get registered by life insurance companies.

{{The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Tuesday concluded defence special evidence hearing for the most wanted genocide fugitive, Felicien Kabuga.}}

“Special deposition for Kabuga was completed Tuesday and a total of six witnesses have testified for the defence,’’ Tribunal’s Spokesman, Roland Amossouga said Wednesday.

Kabuga’s Duty Counsel, Bahame Nyanduga commenced fielding his witnesses on April 23, 2012.The prosecution’s special deposition hearing began on May 23, 2011 and was concluded on October 28, 2011.

The alleged sponsor of the 1994 genocide is accused of 11 counts, including conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

The special deposition hearings are being conducted to preserve evidence for future use if the fugitives in question were to be arrested.

{{Rwanda is hosting the 10th Annual meeting of Judges and court clerks from the five member states of the East African Community. Rwanda is hosting this meeting for the first time after joining the regional bloc in 2011.}}

The Three-day meeting is being held under the theme, ‘Universal Competence and Africa’

Representing the President, Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi the Prime Minister officially opened the meeting saying that Univesal competence is the best way to deal with culture of impunity.

Dr. Habumuremyi noted that many fugitives are hiding in different countries. He urged countries hosting such suspects to try them in their justice system or repatriate them to countries where they committed crimes.

Angeline Rutazana a High court judge and president of the association of judges and court clerks in rwanda noted that Rwanda being new to the EAC bloc,the meeting will enhance Rwanda’s understanding of issues relating to Univesal competence.

{{Millward Brown one of the world’s leading research agencies and expert in effective advertising has announced that MTN brand is the first African brand to be listed (now being ranked No.88) on the ‘BrandZ Top 100 Global Brand’ listing.}}

The announcement was made public Tuesday by Milward Brown.

MTN has previously received a number of brand accolades. However, this is the most prestigious to date since it is the first time, an African Brand has made the BrandZ listing ever.

The BrandZ listing is one of the most prestigious rankings that players in the industry follow closely on a global level.

In March 2012 MTN moved up 12 places to the 188th position in the ‘Brand Finance Global 500’ grading, another valuable world brand ranking and maintained its position as Africa’s only company to be listed.

The improvement in MTN’s brand value rankings reaffirms the mobile operator’s growing prominence and continued relevance in the lives of its 164.6 million subscribers across its 22 markets in Africa and the Middle East.

In Rwanda, MTN is the market leader and has close to 3 million subscribers.