Cross-border traders have a big role to play in the growth of the economy, yet there’re less efforts to help them tackle enormous challenges they face while trading acrossborders with neighbouring countries.
In this regard cooperative associations are meeting in Kigali for a 3day workshop during which they will learn how to improve their performance and jointly devise means addressing some of their challenges.
Their president Migisha Nyangezi who’s also the chairman of Nyagatare district said that the talks will focus more on how to fight injustice from their neighboring traders who often hike prices to Rwandan traders.
This would be solved by strengthening the Simplified trade regime which will avoid corrupt activities towards cross-border traders.
“Our cooperative deals with grains which we buy from neighboring Ugandan traders but what’s annoying is when they hike price yet we have to cater for the transport cost and other taxes,” he argued.
Another way of fighting the injustice he said is by building capacity to cooperative members and so far COMESA has started offering lessons on management, marketing obstacles.
Leornard Kabagambe the COMESA’s coordinator of small cross-border associations in Rwanda insisted that traders are particularly taught on their rights through raising their awareness on some of the regional trade policies.
“According to EAC market protocol, regional traders selling local products shouldn’t pay tax as long as they have a certificate of origin confirming their products are not foreign”, said Kabagambe.
Indeed, understanding regional trade policies is essential but what happened to harmonization of some trade laws? Wonders Jeane Bayera, a representative of Gatuna small cross-border traders, her worry is mostly on the US$ 76 charged on every foreign car that enters the country yet in other regional countries there’re not charged the amount.
By press time the minister of trade and industry Francois Kanimba couldn’t comment on the matter saying he was busy chairing a meeting. An official in charge of trade issues at the Ministry of East Africa Community said he was not aware of the issue.
However, Augustine Mugabo, the chairman of Rubavu cross-border traders said besides the cross border taxes, there other priority challenges and insisted that financial institutions should ease lending to small traders even though they lack bigger collaterals their businesses are promising.
And since access to lending is hindrance to progress of the cooperatives, some members have started moving out of the associations.
“We started with 100 people then after sometime some left the team we’re now 80, those who left showed weaknesses in the contributions, normally the entry fee is Frw 100,000 while monthly contributions is Frw 20,000, we’re very strict on the contribution in order to raise our working capital hence we need more people,” he remarked.
He further highlighted that with enough capital, they would sell more than they buy from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hence for a start they have plans to have a bigger warehouse which they hope would positively have an impact in their business.
“We’ve always wished to have our own warehouse to store our goods since it would help us to buy goods at lower prices and sell them when there’s demand on the market.”
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