Resolve Kenya, Tanzania trade dispute quickly

A goods truck crosses into Tanzania from Kenya at the Namanga border. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

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The longstanding trade dispute between Kenya and Tanzania is derailing business between the two neighbours to the detriment of entrepreneurs who depend on it.

For a long time, Tanzania has been Kenya’s second largest export market after Uganda, underlining its importance as a trading partner.

The dispute has put in jeopardy the production of some goods in Kenya, as businesspeople cannot continue normally until they have found other markets to replace the seemingly unreliable Tanzanian one.

The situation is therefore dire for those whose jobs that are dependent on selling goods to Tanzania. In the first five months of this year, Kenya’s exports to Tanzania fell by 34 per cent to stand at Sh8.2 billion compared to a similar period last year.

That means more than a third of the value derived from selling products such as palm oil, soap, medical drugs, cooking fat, iron sheets, sugar confectionery and margarine to Tanzania was lost.

It is for this reason that cancellation of a meeting intended to iron out the differences between the two countries is unfortunate.

There can be no doubt that traders on both sides of the common border need a quick settlement of the impasse in order to resume normal production and keep employees at work.

The long-running market access battles with Tanzania have become worse in the past few months after Kenya blocked importation of Tanzanian gas through the Namanga border post over quality concerns.

Clearly, both countries have issues with products coming from one another’s territory. Resolving such a matter would definitely require level-headedness and a willingness to understand each other’s position however irrational it may seem.

Negotiators on both sides must be driven by the understanding that the losers in all this are ordinary citizens of both nations who are losing millions of shillings in the blockade.

Kenya, which has been the main beneficiary of the trade between the two nations, needs to be particularly sensitive to the feelings of Tanzania and solidly address its concerns.

The bottom line then is that both will lose if they prolong the current dispute for too long -- meaning that it is in the interest of the two countries to quickly resolve the matter.