URN.The Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and Energy and Mineral Development, say they have also been collaborating with the Tanzania government to improve transportation through the country.
The Kenyan general elections are due next week. Kenyan polls often create anxiety among Ugandans in general but traders in particular over the likely effects on trade safety. This is based on what happened just after the 2007 elections when protesters destroyed Uganda-bound cargo and damaged the Uganda-Kenya railway in Nairobi and Kisumu.
A year later, in 2009, angry youths in Kibera slums in Nairobi again uprooted about 100 metres of rail sparked off by a crackdown by Kenya’s electricity utility agency Kenya Power and lighting on illegal connections. The chants ‘Migingo, Migingo, Migingo’ by the rioters suggested the uprooting of the railway line was aimed at either punishing or sending a message to Uganda by referring to the disputed ownership of Lake Victoria Island.
While the action could have been a message over the Island, some witnesses suggested it was a message to Uganda over its alleged involvement in the Kenyan elections. At the time, Raila Odinga was the area MP (Langata Constituency) and loser to Mwai Kibaki in the disputed presidential poll.
For the destruction of the railway to happen in his constituency and in his homeland, Kisumu, analysts were able to conclude political motives on the part of the rioters.
Since then, the Uganda government and private sector leaders usually advise traders to use the Central Corridor (through Tanzania) for trade as one of the options, whenever Kenya is holding her general elections.
According to the Uganda Revenue Authority, about 82 percent of Uganda’s imports are through Kenya’s Mombasa port, and at least 12.5 go through Dar-es-Salaam, and the other percentage is mainly by air. Therefore, a disruption along the Kampala-Mombasa highway and railway system, also known as the Northern Transport Corridor means disruption of key supplies to not only Uganda, but other hinterland countries like Rwanda, DRC Congo, Burundi and South Sudan.
However, the former three import more through the Dar-es-Salaam route (Central Corridor) than Uganda. The government of Kenya has, through the ministry of East African Community Affairs assured Uganda that trade with and through Kenya will remain secure throughout the election period.
The region’s business community is also more hopeful that the peaceful election and post-election periods in the last two elections has set an irreversible trend.
“We expect the elections to be fair with the smooth transition and therefore no disruptions to trade as was the case in 2007,” said John Bosco Kalisa, the Chief Executive Officer of the East African Business Council.
The ‘brotherly ‘gestures at events by the rival politicians, coupled with their calls for peace and the fact that the incumbent president is not a candidate, are some of the sources of the belief that there will be no repeat of the 2007/2008 scenario. However, this is not a guarantee, as some politicians are warning against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission from influencing the results.
Martha Karua, Odinga’s running mate, last week warned that only the neutrality of the IEBC in the elections will ensure peace and progress for Kenya after during and after the elections. And the government of Kenya also knows how the protection of transit cargo is to the country because of the traffic that Mombasa port handles, a quarter if destined for Uganda only.
Despite the assurances for peace, the Uganda government is going ahead with the move to encourage more importers to use the Central Corridor. Thaddeus Musoke, Kampala City Traders Association Chairman, says that they have not yet been informed by the government about its options, but adds that the demand for this from the traders Is low.
This is because the general business mood in the country is low as sales have increasingly dwindled over the last few months. However, according to him, they cannot wait for government to give options because it might be too late.
The Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and of Energy and Mineral Development, say they have also been collaborating with the Tanzania government to improve transportation through the country.
Ugandan traders find the central corridor less appealing mainly because it is long and the operations of the authorities there are slow, according to KACITA Uganda Chairman Thaddeus Musoke. He says for those who cannot wait till the situation if more clear, should direct their cargo through Tanzania, though now it might be too late for some new orders.
In previous disruptions, the most affected imports would be petroleum products, whose scarcity cause an immediate increase in prices in Uganda and consequently affect the prices of other goods.
However, over time, the supply of the petroleum products through Kenya has progressively evolved over time since the rehabilitation and construction of facilities in Kisumu by Kenya in 2020.
It was followed by piloting of water transport of fuel by water from Tanzania’s Mwanza to Port Bell in Kampala in June last year, a system which had broken down for 16 years.
According to URA, most fuel destined for Uganda from Mombasa is transported by pipeline to Kisumu, where trucks pick it up from.
This, according to the tax body, makes any attempts at disrupting supply more manageable. Musoke says the Tanzania root will become more attractive with time as the government continues to consult with the business community on how to lower the cost of doing business through the central corridor
On their part, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, PSFU, believes enough has been done over the last few months in ensuring the usability of the Tanzania root, especially since Samia Suluhu Hassan became president of the country.
Francis Kisirinya, the PSFU Deputy Executive Director says that one major obstacle has been the high costs involved, which were abetted by discriminatory policies at the expense of Uganda. He says these have been rectified.
On the use of the railway, Kisirinya says Tanzania has been improving its railway network and it is now able to effectively deliver goods from the coast to the Lake Victoria vessels to Uganda.
