Archive for category: Coopertives

KAMPALA, Uganda: Women business cooperators along the Uganda- Rwanda border have called upon the East African Community to intervene in the Uganda-Rwanda diplomatic stalemate with a view of re-opening Uganda’s common border with Rwanda at Katuna.

M/s Miria Akankwasa, the chairperson of Katuna Women Cross-border Multipurpose Traders Cooperative says that as a result of the continued closure of the border, women business communities along the border were choking on loans and were susceptible to defaulting, thanks to lost cross-border business.

“As Cross border women traders, we are really suffering. We have lost a lot of money since the border closed, women are shifting from homes because of microfinance loans. The loan guys are hunting for the women traders, our children are not schooling because some used to study across Rwanda,” she said. Akankwasa. She noted that because Rwandans are restricted from coming to Uganda, Ugandans along the border also do not free to travel to Rwanda

Akankwasa was speaking at a public dialogue to mark 20 years of East African Community (EAC) held at Hotel Africana in Kampala on Thursday last week. The dialogue was jointly organized by SEATINI- Uganda, the Eastern Africa Sub-Region Support Initiative(EASSI) and Centre for Social Justice in Food and Health (CEFROHT).

Speaking at the same event, the SEATINI Country Director M/s Jane Nalunga urged East Africans to put pressure on their leaders to implement regional and international commitments: “When you sign the treaties, it is imperative that you respect them by implementing them. Let’s embrace the EAC integration with joy. These are the successes that we want to reflect on as we celebrate today, and 20 more years to come,” she said.

Under the EAC Common Market Protocol that came into effect in January 2010, all EAC member states are supposed to allow free movement of people and goods from member states across their borders as a way of increasing intra-EAC trade and promote regional integration. Rwanda’s unilateral closure of its main border with Uganda in late February this year has however seen a significant reduction in trade volumes between the two countries, and Rwandan citizens have been barred by their government from traveling to Uganda.

The EAC treaty was established on 30th November 1999 and came into force in July 2000. From the founding 3 member states of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, the block has grown to presently six members, admitting Rwanda, Burundi and most recently South Sudan along the way. Recently, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also applied to join.

The Permanent Secretary Ministry of East African Community Affairs. M/s Edith Mwanje said she was optimistic about the EAC’s prospects, noting there has been significant progress on the Customs Union front: “The implementation of the elimination of non-tariff barriers has helped increase trade volumes between member-states” she said.

Challenges

Mwanje, however, noted that none payment of annual subscription fees by member states is undermining the progress of the Community. She also highlighted competition from other Economic blocs such as the Common Market for East and Southern Africa(COMESA) as another challenge.

These, coupled with on and off bilateral tensions between member-states culminating in non-tarrif barriers has seen intra-EAC trade suffer significant decline in the recent past, with member countries exploring alternative markets. Between 2013 and 2017 for example, intra-EAC trade fell from $3.5billion to $2.4billion, and analysts argue that the recent bilateral tensions between Uganda and Rwanda mean it(trade) won’t be recovering soon.

Already, the standoff has already significantly hurt Uganda’s exports to Rwanda, with figures from URA and Bank of Uganda noting that Uganda earned just $34.12million in the first quarter of 2019, the lowest quarterly earnings from Rwanda in 9 years!

Hon. Fred Mukasa Mbidde, Uganda’s representative to the East African Legislative Assembly Member(EALA) called upon leaders to always listen to citizens’ concerns about the community, arguing that its them (the citizens) that the Community is meant to serve: “Traders, when you tell your leaders what they are supposed to do, that is not politics. It’s your right.” He said.

He argued that what brought the first EAC crumbling in the 70s was political differences between leaders of member-states, which are emerging even today: “People don’t just close borders. Rwanda is complaining that its citizens are jailed in Uganda without trial. These are people issues – allegations that have to be verified by a joint verification committee,” said Mbidde.

M/s Sheila Kawamara Mishambi, a former Member of EALA and the Executive Director EASSI expressed disappointment with what she called the reluctance of EAC leaders to resolve the Uganda-Rwanda stalemate, arguing that it was affecting hundreds of ordinary lives:

“The people at the borders are East Africans. They feel the pinch and when borders are closed, they suffer most,” she said. “You are bringing on board DRC with all their own problems to be added to South Sudan at a time when we’re failing to resolve old misunderstandings between Rwanda and Uganda. How do you expect to handle all these problems,” she asked.

Ambassador Nathan Irumba, Executive Director SEATINI called upon member countries to obey the Community’s laws, noting that only then can the Community move towards full integration: “The challenges facing EAC stem from failure to obey the laws. Leaders forget that after ratifying the protocols, they are supposed to implement them to the dot,” he said.

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Kampala, Uganda: Uganda will next week host the 3rd China-Africa Expo next week, the Uganda Investment Authority has announced.

According to a joint communique released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) in collaboration with China Africa Development Fund, Uganda Investment Authority, and Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the China-Uganda Industrial Capacity Cooperation Exposition will take place in Kampala next week, from the 23rd -26th July 2019, at UMA showgrounds Lugogo.

The Expo, the first in Uganda, will be the third in a series of China-Africa expos, with the first two having been held in Kenya and Ethiopia in November and December 2018 respectively. The expos are part of the “eight major initiatives” announced by President Xi Jinping at Summit for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Beijing in September 2018.

During the summit attended by the majority of Africa’s Heads of State, President Xi announced that China would launch “eight major initiatives” together with Africa to draw a blueprint for the development of China-Africa relations in the new era, and build a platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa.

Next week’s China-Uganda Expo will attract 43 enterprises from 12 provinces and cities of China seeking to explore investment opportunities in Uganda in a wide range of industries including engineering machinery, energy equipment, agricultural processing equipment, automobiles, among others.

Although Uganda opened diplomatic relations with China at independence in 1962, economic and trade ties had not been significant until the recent past. The NRM Government’s recent push for infrastructure development, coupled with a surge in China’s overseas development spending where Uganda has been a key beneficiary, has seen tens of Chinese companies flock into Uganda to tap into the new opportunities presented by Uganda’s resurgent construction and industrial sectors. Today, Chinese companies are heavily invested in the Ugandan economy, from construction and industry to manufacturing and trade.

Speaking at a press conference held at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday, M/s Zhao Xinfen, the economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in Uganda said that hosting the China-Uganda industrial capacity cooperation exposition is a clear demonstration that the partnership between China and Uganda is moving towards a deeper and higher level.

Martin Muhangi, the Director for investment promotion at Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) said that with the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative – China’s flagship overseas development financing initiative, cooperation between China and Uganda will greatly assist the attainment of Uganda‘s economic development targets, and inject strong momentum in the quest to realize Uganda’s Vision 2040.

The expo comes weeks after President Museveni’s visit to China where he addressed the coordinators meeting for the implementation of the resolutions of the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit, signed a host of bilateral treaties between Uganda and China, and opened the first-ever China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, Hunan Province in China.

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Kiryadongo, Uganda: Over 80 cooperators from Kiryadongo district have been tipped on skills development and value addition, as a way of creating and generating wealth.

The training, mainly of members from the Kiryadongo-based Kiigya United Farmers and Kikooba United Cooperative was organized by the Uhuru Institute for Social Development under their Coop360 Network – a platform that brings together primary cooperatives and business Associations to share opportunities for growth.

Addressing the members at Kikooba Parish, Kigumba Sub County in Kiryadongo district, Mr. Leonard Okello, the Chief Executive Officer Uhuru Institute for Social Development urged participants to get organized under cooperatives, and add value to their produce so as to earn more.

“I encourage you to join or form cooperatives. Cooperatives values and principals – their discipline and democratic ownership will fast-track your individual and collective economic growth,” said Okello.

Other facilitators included Dr. Tukahikayo Denis, the Uhuru Institute Business Development and Technical Advisor, Mr. Francis Lulahali, the Network, and Research Assistant, and Mr. Kalyegira Musoke, the Masindi District Commercial Officer.

The Kikooba United Cooperative Board Chairperson, Mr. Byaruhanga Francis hailed the Uhuru Institute for its commitment to training cooperators in Cooperative ethos, saying that the skills they were imparting were transforming lives.

He said the farmers decided to come together to form the Kikooba United Cooperative in 2004, after persistent losses they were incurring at the hands of middlemen.

Started in 2002 as a farmer group with 30 members, it later registered as a multipurpose cooperative on 9th December 2004, and has since grown to 120 members. Now, the cooperative runs a savings and credit scheme, and also provides bulking marketing, and tractor for hire services.

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KAMPALA, Uganda: Cooperatives dealing in coffee exports and other agricultural commodities are set to reap big from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that was officially commissioned on Monday.

AfCTA – which, with its 55 member states will be the world’s single-biggest trading block since the formation of the World Trade Organization was on Monday given a new boost after President Muhammadu Buhari committed Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation to the trading block that will now be headquartered in Ghana.

Initially adopted at the 30th Ordinary Session of the African Union Heads of State and Government held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2018 and launched two months later in Kigali Rwanda in March last year, the ambitious trade pact seeks to bring Africa’s 1.3billion people into one single economic lock worth $3.4 trillion, and grow intra-African by about 52% by 2022.

Currently, Trade amongst African countries remains the lowest of all intra-continental trade globally, with Afriexim Bank’s 2017 report showing that intra-Africa trade accounted for just 13% of the continent’s total trade, compared to 18% for Latin America, 56% for North Ameria, 52% for Asia, and 68% for Europe.

Now, to better these figures, AfCTA will require member countries to liberalize up to 90 percent of their trade in a period of 5 and 10 years for Non-Least Developed and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) respectively, to allow seamless mobility of goods on the continent.

According to the outgoing chair of the African Union Ministers of Trade who also doubles as Uganda’s Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Minister Hon. Amelia Kyambadde, although the required minimum of 22 member-country ratifications for the trade zone to be operational were reached in April this year, the operationalization of the trading block will start this month.

With Nigeria signing unto the trade pact, 54 of the continent’s 55 countries have so far signed the trade pact.

At the extra-ordinary Summit of the Heads of State in Niamey on Monday, the Heads of State flagged off AfCFTA by launching the following Instruments: Tariff offer concessions portal, Africa trade observatory mechanism, Non-Tariff Barriers identification, and reporting mechanism, and Product rules of origin among others.

“The AfCFTA framework agreement negotiations will cover trade in goods, services, investment, and trade-related intellectual property rights, competition policy, the Protocol on the Rules and Procedures on the Settlement of Disputes,” said Kyambadde.

The negotiations will take place in two phases- Phase I which is on-going and covers trade in Goods and Services, while phase II will cover Investment, competition, and trade-related intellectual property rights.

How is Uganda benefiting from the AfCFTA?

Uganda has over the past 1 year been chairing the negotiations process for the African Continental Free Trade Area, and Kyambadde is optimistic the country is set to reap big from AfCTA: “Already, our exports to Africa are increasing, and accounted for over 51% of total exports in 2017 and 2018,” she said.

She said that growth in African exports was improving Uganda’s general export performance, rising from US$2.482bn in 2016 to US$2.901bn in 2017 and US$3.087bn in 2018, excluding informal trade.

Going forward, Kyambadde argued that with the conclusion of the negotiations of the AfCFTA, there will be a reduction in tariffs for a number of strategic export products to especially African countries such as Coffee, Tea, Tobacco, Cereals, Iron and Steel Products. Others are dairy and dairy products, Sugar and Sugar confectionery, among others.

“These frameworks will certainly lead to further growth of our exports, thus economically benefitting our people that are engaged in the production process,” she said.

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WAKISO, Uganda: Government is committed to ensuring that Cooperatives are revamped to its former glory, President Yoweri Museveni has reaffirmed.

In a speech read on his behalf by the 3rd Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Moses Ali during this year’s international Cooperative Day held at Wakiso District Playgrounds on Saturday, Museveni said that his government was committed to the payment of all compensation claims by Cooperatives as a result of war losses.

A number of Cooperative Unions across the country were part of several organized groups that contributed logistical support to the National Resistance Movement’s Bush war between 1981-86, that toppled the Tito Okello government and ushered President Museveni into power.

Once in power, the NRM government was, as part of its economic recovery program, supposed to compensate the affected cooperatives for the losses suffered during the war, amounting to over Ugx160 billion. An investigation by theCooperator early this year, however, found that most of the Cooperatives have yet to be paid, 33 years down the road.

TheCooperator has however learned that compensations are now ongoing. At the launch of the Cooperative week at the Uganda Media Center on Thursday last week, Trade Industry and Cooperatives Minister Hon. Amelia Kyambadde announced that over 10 cooperative unions countrywide had already received part compensation payments from the government. These include Masaba Cooperative Union, Lango Cooperative Union, East & west Acholi, Masaka, Busoga Growers, and Banyankole Kweterana, Kigezi, Teso and Nyakatonzi Cooperatives Union.

On Saturday, Gen. Moses Ali assured the cooperators that government was committed to supporting Cooperative Unions to get back to their feet: “My message to you is that we(government) are committed to ensuring that cooperatives get back to being as strong as they are,” said Gen. Ali.

State Minister for Trade Hon. Michael Werikhe also told the cooperators that the government was set to revive the Cooperative Bank, following the enactment of the Cooperative Act by parliament in May.

Speaking to theCooperator, Leonard Okello, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uhuru Institute for Social Development welcomed what he called Government’s “renewed commitment” to cooperatives, arguing that they(cooperatives) are a critical means towards attaining an equitable society with the citizen at the center of an inclusive, cooperative, and accountable economic system. He commended the Cooperator for being a steadfast mouthpiece of the Cooperatives movement.

The weeklong celebrations were marked with multi-denominational prayers across the country, and a host of other activities that included cleaning of markets, blood donation drives, and tree planting exercises. In the blood donation drive that was launched early last week, over 500 units of blood were collected. At the medical camp at Wakiso conducted by Uganda Red Cross, over 50 males received free male circumcision.

This year’s Cooperatives Week was jointly organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Walimu SACCO, the Uhuru Institute for Social Development, the Cooperative Insurance Company and the Uganda Cooperative Alliance.

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