A tax awareness event during a URA Customer Day in Kampala. Uganda will
increase its domestic debt for the 2014/15 financial year to achieve its
expenditure targets. Photo/Morgan Mbabazi
By STEVE MBOGO Special Correspondent
In Summary
- Regional business leaders say harmonisation of the various laws is slow, with only Rwanda showing the enthusiasm to move faster.
Failure to fast-track harmonisation of
regulatory regimes in the EAC has become a major impediment to
cross-border trade, slowing down the realisation of the full benefits of
the Common Market protocol.
Regional business leaders say harmonisation of the various laws is slow, with only Rwanda showing the enthusiasm to move faster.
“Delay in the harmonisation of regulatory rules
means there is more bureaucracy, which is a business risk, cutting out a
lot of opportunities,” said Tom Mulwa, the chief executive officer of
Liaison Risk & Pension Consultants, which operates across the EAC.
This lack of rules means that, for instance, a
Kenyan insurance company seeking to enter the Tanzanian market must meet
all the conditions that a company from say, South Africa, has to meet.
Lead health specialist at the International
Finance Corporation Khama Rogo said the delay in effecting uniform
standards across the region has been one of the key limiters to foreign
investment in the region’s health care sector.
“Big investors want bigger markets. Rather than go
for 40 million people in Kenya, they want to go for East Africa. We
should be able to bring on board South Sudan and Ethiopia as one market
so that when you register a product here it should be able to move
freely across regional borders,” said Prof Rogo.
The benefit of allowing big players to join the
regional market, he said, is that there will be greater competition and
therefore costs will come down.
Business leaders now want the EAC Secretariat to fast-track various regulatory rules in order to ease the cost of doing business
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