Ugandan traders urge Uhuru on EA trade barriers

WITH NEWLY elected President Uhuru Kenyatta taking over the leadership mantle of East Africa’s largest economy, Uganda’s private sector hopes his reign will reduce the constraints that negatively impact on regional trade.Over the years, Uganda has suffered from the arbitrary decisions that Kenya takes with the most recent ones being the Kenyan authorities’ refusal to allow Ugandan sugar in their market and the introduction of cash bonds on Ugandan bound cargo months ago.“We [private sector] shall begin eliminating the Non-tariff barriers,” the Private Sector Foundation (PSFU), executive director Gideon Badagawa, said in an interview yesterday.He continued: “We expect harmonisation of polices, standards and development of the regional infrastructure to continue under his reign.”But according to the Kampala City Traders Association Chairman, Mr Everist Kayondo, old claims incurred during the 2007 post-election violence should be the priority.He said: “Ugandan traders lost more than Shs40 billion in the 2007 election in Kenya after the violence occurred. These traders should first be cleared so that they can resume business.”He was also of the view that the new leadership will do well to quickly deal with the elimination of the current weigh bridge measurements—using the per axle method, instead of weighing the truck as a whole.Decongesting Mombasa port, he believes, will differentiate the current leadership with the previous ones.East Africa intra-trade stands at 13 percent of all total trade volumes

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Ugandan traders urge Uhuru on EA trade barriers