The governments of the East African Community (EAC) have been asked to amend ratification free trade agreements signed between themselves and other nations under the Private Partnership arrangement.  

He said EAC member states have opened their doors wide for competitive trade with their counterparts globally, but some of the signatory countries under these agreement are blocking EAC goods in their markets using non-tariff barriers (NTBs).

Ugandan legislator, John Ssimbwa, was speaking during a breakfast dialogue on revenue mobilization measures in the 2015/16 Uganda budget organized by SEATINI.

The Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) is a regional Non-Governmental Organization founded in 1996 soon after the WTO Singapore Ministerial Conference. This was after it was realized that Third World countries in general and Africa in particular, were marginalized in the WTO negotiations and other global processes. 

Ssimbwa said there were procurement laws and quality laws outside the spirit of SADC, COMESA and EAC despite the signing of non-tariff barriers protocols under PPP.  Some member countries cannot sanction entrance of products outside their home countries to enter unless those products are levied tax on them.

He said, “This was a contentious issue during the recently concluded Regional Workshop for African Parliamentarians and Members of the Indian Ocean Commission and the East African Community, organised by the World Trade Organisation in port Louis Mauritius.

‘The aim is to sensitise participants on the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement ratification,’ he said. 

Simbwa said heads of state regularly meet to discuss trade and markets in relation to non-tariff barriers products, but up to now Uganda needs permist to market its goods and products in Kenya. He cited Ugandan products like cables which he claimed cannot access the Kenyan market. 

He cautioned with the creation of a bigger free trade areas,  there will be an influx of goods from leading African developed member states like Egypt and South Africa  whose goods can kill off local production. 

The Chairperson of  Uganda’s parliamentary committee on Budget, Amos Lugoloobi, said  it was urgent for the government to streamline the tax regime and not favour foreign investors as opposed to local countrparts.

The government should focus on supporting the local investors to produce for export in order to compete favorably and fund export promotion council to fulfill its mandate of searching for markets in Uganda and beyond. 

The SEATINI Country Director Jane Nalunga said tax mobilization would be welcome as stipulated in the budget speech, but provided the tax payer in turn receives the basic necessities of life like free health, education and other services as the case in Ghana where tax collectors are accountable to the public by displaying on billboards projects their tax was used for at a time and provision of free services in gazette sectors.