THE East African Community secretariatis working on a legal document to compel member states to eliminateNon Tarrif Barriers and speed up common market gains. EAC Secretary General Richard Seziberahas said that removal of NTBs will be one of the major priorities forthe organization this year. “By second quarter of 2012, we shallhave a draft ready for consideration by policy organs of the variousmember states,” said Sezibera yesterday. He was speaking during astakeholders forum held yesterday in Nairobi to review progress onthe elimination of NTBs.
According to Sezibera various barrierslike infrastructural constraints have been identified and some minorones have already been resolved by EAC. He added that though the legal documentwill seek to address as many of the barriers faced as possible, notall of these will be subject of the legal document to be introduced.
A representative of Uganda's privatesector Kassim Omar complained of slow pace of addressing thesebarriers even after they have been identified and discussed at highgovernment levels. “It is time to adopt much strongermeasures to deal with non tariff barriers. A legal binding mechanismwill guarantee elimination of NTBs,” Kassim told delegates at theforum.
Some of the major barriers that havebeen identified include numerous weigh bridges, congestion andinefficiencies at the ports of Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam and bad roadnetwork in some parts of the region. “In the case of the Mombasa port,technocrats give their own reasons why there are delays and most ofthe time this does not reflect the reality on the ground. There is abig problem there (at Mombasa port) and some of it is because theport lacks skilled workers,” noted Kassim.
Rwanda on its part said that as a landlocked country, inefficiencies at the port in Mombasa are heavilyaffecting the cost of goods in the country as it has little optionsfor channels through which to import. According to most importers, itis estimated that port inefficiencies account for 40 per cent of thefinal cost of a commodity.
Representatives from Rwandan nationalorganizing committee within the EAC called for action on tradebarriers adding that they have been identified and documentedalready. Burundi on its part reported that therewas still more fear than hope among its citizens on the EAC treatybecause tangible results of the common market were yet to be seen.The country has also backed proposals to draft a legal document toeliminate barriers.
