Kenya: Ruto plan to use his new cabinet to make EAC integration a reality

NAIROBI - Kenya’s 5th president is banking on his new cabinet to push for the realization of East African integration a reality. The 22 cabinet nominees dubbed the ‘Dream Team’ whose vetting process by the special committee of the National Assembly comes to an end this Saturday defended the President’s economic and EAC policies.

This new team will be sworn into office by the president on November 3rd and is expected to tackle the bottlenecks hindering the realization of the EAC integration.

Moses Kuria- Trade, Investment, and Industry CS nominee vetting said that he will engage with his counterparts from other African states to actualize the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and ensure that the trade pact benefits African countries.

Later this year the Biden administration plan to host a trade ministerial meeting of the sub-Saharan region to discuss expanding trade and investment relations and implementation of the AGOA.

The CS nominee -Mr. Kuria is also expected to lead Kenya’s negotiations with the US government, which is seeking both bilateral and multilateral trade pacts with Africa.

Recently Mr. Kuria accompanied President William Ruto to Uganda and Tanzania where the issues of trade barriers were discussed.

The sale of Kenya-made goods to Uganda dipped slightly to $298 million in the period under review from $299 million) in the same half last year.

He also plans to tap into the EAC market by increasing trade attaches within the region.
“We will increase trade attaches not just in the EAC but also all over the world. They will be more than the ambassadors,” he said.

As a way of promoting intra-EAC trade, Kenya plans to use to set up warehouses in key markets within the region that will uniquely sell Kenyan products.

The CS nominee also pointed out that he plans to open up the market to allow smaller companies and individuals to be in a position to manufacture and import oil. This is aimed at cushioning Kenyans against the rising prices of edible oils.

Kipchumba Murkomen, CS nominee said that will ensure that the government boosts the technological infrastructure along the border points to ease the congestion of trucks along the Northern Corridor.

“We will deploy the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) and we’ll therefore have no need for the analog way of dealing with discipline on our roads,” he said.

He also pledged to boost the technological infrastructure along the border points to ease the congestion of trucks along the Northern Corridor. He pointed out that the congestion along the Malaba border has been occasioned by poor technological networks being used by the Kenya Revenue Authority to clear trucks.

Mr. Murkomen also hinted at congesting the Malaba border to ease the movement of goods and services.

“Currently both the Busia and Malaba border posts have been characterized by endless queues of trucks extending as far as 25km along the Bungoma-Malaba highway, delaying the free movement of goods between Kenya and Uganda. Our new administration will propose the construction of a parking place at the both Busia and Malaba border to ease the congestion.”

GAROWE ONLINE