Private sector to blame for blocking trade, East African integration

Trucks.

Trucks at Webuye in Bungoma County, Kenya, making their way to the Kenya-Uganda border at Malaba on January 17, 2022. PHOTO | BRIAN OJAMAA | NMG

The private sector has come in for blame for the enduring non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that have perennially choked trade in spite of policies to eliminate them.

At a retreat on the EAC Common Market held on July 20 in Arusha, it was revealed that NTBs have significantly contributed to the declining intra-EAC trade, which is below 20 percent.