Kenyans took to social media on Monday to lament trade discrepancies with Tanzania.
The
#fairTradeKe trended top most of the day after the Nation published a
story detailing a raft of trade barriers placed on Kenyan goods seeking
market in Tanzania.
Those who contributed under the
hashtag decried the silence from Kenyan authorities as traders from
Tanzania enjoy favourable cross border trade into Kenya.
“We should build a wall along the border with Tanzania! I think
this is the best time for Kenyans to wake up on the four agendas.
Promote trade and manufacturing within. #fairTradeKe ,” a Ruth
(@Agribusiness 360) tweeted.
Others called for Kenya to
hit back by increased tariff on Tanzanian traders to protect the local
manufacturers who have been prevented from exporting to the market
through dissuasive tariffs.
Traders lamented that
vehicles bearing Kenyan number plates were targeted by the Tanzanian
police forcing the Kenyan traders to hire vehicles from Tanzania to sail
smoothly across the border.
More hostility
“Hostility
within the East African Community is metered out to Kenyans mainly by
Tanzania. Even if Tanzania is claiming to protect its citizens from
better economies, there is no need of violating the rights of Kenyan
citizens living in Tanzania,” wrote Victor Mochere.
Tanzania and Kenya has been engaged in a periodic trade tiffs
with the latest one having emanated from the decision by Kenya to allow
for duty free importation of sugar.
Tanzanian authorities insisted that Kenyan manufacturers had used the duty-free sugar to make sweets and other confectionaries.
Dar then slapped a 25 per cent import duty on Kenyan confectionery, juice, ice cream and chewing gum last year.
The
duty went on for months forcing Kenya to threaten its trading neighbour
with a ban after Tanzanian officials set to visit Kenyan factories to
verify the claim kept postponing the visit.
Uganda had
joined the punitive duty as Kenyan products became uncompetitive in the
two markets and traders suffered massive losses.
When
they finally visited in June 2018 and found that none of the Kenyan
manufacturers of confectionaries and sugar-based products benefitted
from sugar imported under zero duty, only Uganda lifted the duty.
Tanzania refused to bulge.
“Uganda has implemented the
findings while Tanzania reported that they have reservations on the
findings. Further, Tanzania charges 35 per cent duty to confectionary
and sugar-based products, in addition they also charge Railway
Development Levy (RDL) 1.5 percent (Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority)
TFDA levy of 1.5 percent among others.
"This is
contrary to what Tanzania was directed not to charge stayed tariffs
during the SCTIFI May2018,” read a briefing prepared by the Kenya
Association of Manufacturers after a November meeting to end the
dispute.
Second verification
Tanzania
reportedly wrote to the EAC Secretariat informing the reasons for their
reservations for not granting preferential treatment to confectioneries
from Kenya. The matter remains unresolved.
Tanzania has since asked for a second verification; a move Kenya has rejected according to the KAM brief.
Tanzania
has also restricted imports from Kenya from time to time including
chicken and eggs and imposed heavy duty on other products like milk and
cigarettes from Kenya; making the products uncompetitive compared with
those from other markets and those locally manufactured.
While
partner states of the East African Region are required to treat goods
manufactured from one another’s country like local, Tanzania has been
finding various reasons to slap heavy duty on Kenyan products.
Kenyan
traders have also been unhappy with Tanzania for charging $250 for a
Business Visa. The fees charged an all the EAC business persons entering
Tanzania is branded a ‘Certificate of Temporary Assignment (CTA)as
Tanzania maintains that the charge is just a ‘fee on a pass.’
Kenyan traders are now pushing for a similar discriminative visa or pass fee until charges are dropped by Tanzania.
Kenya
largely imports wheat, textiles and clothing, cooking gas, hides and
skin, oil seeds, vegetables, rice, paper and paperboard, footwear, wood,
plastic and rubber, among other products from Tanzania.
Tanzania’s
hardball is part of the reasons Kenya’s exports in EAC declined by 30
percent from USD 1.6 billion to USD 1.1 billion in the period 2012 to
2017 while imports have expanded by 60 percent from USD 0.4 billion to
USD 0.6 billion in the same period.
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