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| Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya (second right) flanked by Narok County Commissioner Samuel Kimiti (right) and Rift Valley Regional Police Commander Marcus Ocholla when they toured the Kenya-Tanzania border at Angata Barikoi on Tuesday. Natembeya said that the two countries were working together to ensure that cases of COVID-19 were well handled at all border points. |
The
diplomatic war between Kenya and Tanzania has far-reaching implications to the
port of Mombasa.
Statistics from the Kenya Ports
Authority (KPA) indicate that in the first seven months of 2019, 141,000 tonnes
of cargo destined for northern Tanzania was imported through Mombasa port.
Besides trade in other goods,
Tanzania also exports tea through the weekly auction in Mombasa.
More than 8,000 metric tonnes
of Tanzanian tea is sold through the world’s second-biggest tea auction in
Mombasa and traders warn that the neighbouring country risks losing foreign
earnings should the stand-off over Covid-19 containment measures escalate.
Officials at KPA and the
association of car importers say it is too early to tell how the tit-for-tat
actions between Kenya and Tanzania will affect overall trade through Mombasa.
Coast region in particular
relies on fresh produce imports from Tanzania. Traders in Coast’s largest open
air markets now fear that the diplomatic tension could lead to shortage and
spike in price of commodities.
No pricing mechanism
Tanzanian traders are the
biggest buyers of Kenya’s coconuts and raw cashew nut and also rely on Kenya
waters in the Indian ocean to satisfy their demand for fish.
“Most of the tea produced in
Tanzania is sold through the Mombasa auction. Tanzania will lose out in foreign
exchange if the borders are closed,” says Edward Mudibo, the managing director
of East Africa Tea Trade Association, the agency that runs the tea auction in
Mombasa.
He explains that Dar es Salaam cannot afford to stop trucks that bring
tea to the auction and export through Mombasa port because it has no pricing
mechanism for the produce.
“If its farmers or tea agency had, say, forward contracts with the
buyers then they would have fetched even better prices, but they don’t. A huge
chunk of their tea is for export,” says Mr Mudibo.
According to world top exports report of 2019, tea was Tanzania’s ninth
largest foreign exchange earner after gold, tobacco, coffee, coconut, cashew
nuts, fish, diamond, oil seed and skin.
Other than tea, cost of transport for goods destined to northern parts of Tanzania is expected to go up due to disruptions caused by the diplomatic tension and Covid-19, according to trade analysts.
“This stand-off is not good. Countries on the northern corridor and those that use the central corridor will hold a meeting to address the issues,” says Omae Nyarandi, the chief executive officer of the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA).
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| FILE: President John Maguifuli of Tanzania (L) enjoying tune of drums with Kenya's President, Uhuru Kenyatta |
He advises that the six NCTTCA
member states and those that use the central corridor should harmonise their
protocol to deal with Covid-19 to avert a rise in cost of transport and goods
in the region.
The northern corridor is a
multimodal trade route linking the port of Mombasa with six landlocked
countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, and South Sudan
“The stand-off is not good at
all. It will affect the economies of both countries and other nations in the
region,” says Nyarani. The Kenya-Tanzania link road through Taveta launched
three years ago reduces the voyage through Uganda by 358km.
Bujumbura-Mombasa-Voi-Taveta-Moshi-Arusha-Singida-Bujumbura
road is 1,545km, which reduces the distance from Mombasa to Bujumbura via the
Northern Corridor by 358km.
On Tuesday, Tanzanian
officials banned all Kenyan trucks from crossing to Tanzania, saying most
drivers test positive for coronavirus.
But the move is seen as a
reaction to Kenya’s decision to make it mandatory for all truck drivers coming
to the country to be tested of the virus. Kenya has, however, not closed its
boarders with Tanzania or barred the movement of goods from any country. The
cross border trade stand-off has sparked fears among traders at the Coast.
At the Kenya-Tanzania border
in Taita-Taveta County, traders from both countries have started feeling the
heat of the diplomatic stand-off.
Those affected complained that
they have lost their economic livelihood and income following the closure of
the border. Kenyans at the border in Taveta Sub-county mostly depend on
agricultural products from Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
“We have been getting
agricultural and horticultural products from Tanzania. But after the closure of
the border four days ago we are not getting cereals like maize and beans
including avocados, oranges and onions among other farm products. I have no job
now,” says Mercy Mucheru, a trader at Taveta open air market. “I no longer get
oranges and passion fruits from Tanzania. The closure of the border has
rendered me jobless,” she adds.
Other traders say price of
cereals has started to rise as they have been forced to source the same from
Makueni and Kajiado counties.
“We used to buy a kilo of
onions at between Sh90 and Sh140 in Taveta town but now we are buying the same
from Emali town at Sh200,” says Mcharo, a trader in Wundanyi town.
The border row has also
affected healthcare services as some Kenyans have been seeking specialised
treatment in Holili, Moshi and Arusha in Tanzania.
But other traders interviewed
yesterday say Tanzania will be the hardest hit because they get about 90 per
cent of industrial products like metal from Kenya. Tanzanian traders also buy
sugar, fuel, salt, soap and vegetable oil from Kenya.
They believe closure of the
border will help deal with illegal cross-border trade in sugar, fuel, gemstones
and Sandalwood deals at the border.
“The closure of the border has also badly affected us in one way or the other because there are products that we have to source from Kenya,” says Elena Matonza, a Tanzanian trader at Taveta border town. – The Standard
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