KIGALI - The recent announcement by Kenyan Premier Raila Odinga that the numerous weighbridges along the Northern Corridor would be reduced to cut the cost of doing business has been welcomed by the Rwandan government.
Odinga last week directed the Kenyan Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security to reduce the number of weighbridges along the Mombasa-Busia road from 13 to two by the end of this year.

"This is a tremendous development for East Africa, for the very reasons President Kagame has ceaselessly championed – prosperity creation and development,” said Dr David Himbara, the head of Policy and Strategy unit in the Office of the President.

He said that President Paul Kagame is most pleased not only for Rwanda but for the whole East African Community - being its current Chairperson.

The President has on several occasions called for the reduction of the number of weighbridges along this road which links Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to the Indian Ocean.

He also said that there are unnecessary police             roadblocks which contribute to corruption in the region.

Consequently, Odinga directed that these roadblocks be reduced from 47 to 15 in an effort to ease the region’s access to the global market and therefore encourage business in the region.

At the just-concluded First East African Business Summit which convened in Kigali, President Kagame said that there are several initiatives that do not cost money, that the community could implement and get back tremendous returns and increased prosperity for East Africans.

"Why should you have 10 weighbridges between Katuna and Malaba? Why should you keep weighing these trucks?We should limit the number of weighbridges to maybe two per country, one at the entrance and one at the exit,” the President told the summit that was attended by all regional Heads of State.

He decried these shortcomings following a report compiled during a study commissioned by his office to find out the stumbling blocks to doing business on the Northern Corridor, on which all the above mentioned countries depend for their international trade.

The report according to Himbara, unearthed various shortfalls from the starting point to the end, "even in Rwanda itself in terms of lengthy and archaic documentation procedures and police roadblocks.”

Himbara also called upon government officials to be "entrepreneurial” and see businessmen as partners and colleagues – and facilitate them as if their own lives depended on this work.

"This is indeed the fact, given that wealth is generated by business…But the Rwandan business sector has also to change its mindset,” Himbara added.

He made reference to what the President often tells Rwandan business people – to operate longer hours like our counterparts in other countries.

"The sense here is that if the East African borders are open twenty four hours, and Rwandan business closes at 5 p.m. daily, then it will not be a "win-win” but in a fact a wasted effort,” the Presidential aide added. 

The decision by the Kenyan government will not only favour the hinterland since an increase in the use of their port will accelerate her gains from the port. Last year she accrued 17 per cent of total revenues from exports from port services.

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