Tanzania and Kenya resolved 23 restrictive regulations that had impeded trade between the two countries, following President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s Nairobi visit in May 2021, a government paper shows.
A new government paper shows that Kenya had initially targeted to resolve about seven non-tariff barriers (NTBs) — restrictive regulations which licences, quotas, embargoes, foreign exchange restrictions, and import deposits — in the financial year 2021/22 but this jumped to 31, reflecting a warm relationship between the two countries.
The drop in the number of these trade barriers, which pushed the cumulative NTBs resolved and eliminated to 256 by end of June last year, came moments after the visit to Kenya by President Suluhu who had just replaced the late John Pombe Magufuli.
Dr Magufuli’s protectionist policies had occasionally flared up in a diplomatic spat between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
“The over achievement was as a result of collaborations between Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania to resolve NTBs to create market access,” reads part of the Report for General Economic and Commercial Affairs Sector, a sector working group for the budget preparation, which also includes the Treasury.
About 13 of these NTBs were resolved at East African Community’s Regional Monitoring Committee meetings, helping push Kenya’s export into the region in the financial year 2021/22 to Sh192.4 billion in the review period.
A year after the visit by Ms Suluhu, trade between Kenya and Tanzania crossed the Sh100 billion mark for the first time, signalling improved ties between the two states.
The thawing of trade ties between the two countries following the death of Magufuli also saw Tanzania’s exports to Kenya race past imports for the first time in the six months to June 2021.
Read: Kenya’s economy booms as Tanzania softens borders
In the third quarter of 2022, the value of imports to Tanzania declined slightly to Sh16.6 billion compared to Sh19.1 billion in the period between July and September 2021, but it is a significant jump from Sh8.8 billion in the same period in 2020.
The value of goods ordered from Tanzania — including cereals, wood, and edible vegetables — hit a high of Sh18.29 billion in the review period, according to the Kenya Revenue Authority data published by the CBK.
The 70.06 percent surge in goods bought from Tanzania outpaced that of exports, which grew at a five-year high, resulting in a rare trade deficit of Sh1.02 billion.
Kenya’s trade spat with Tanzania reached a crescendo in November 2017 when Dar es Salaam burnt 6,400 live chicks from Kenya on grounds that they were smuggled into the country.
Later, Kenya would also ban maize imported from Uganda and Tanzania, arguing that the imported crop had been infected with cancer-causing aflatoxin.
Lately, as Kenya ran short of maize, a staple food crop, and retail prices of maize flour soared, the country turned to Tanzania to plug the deficit.
However, Kenyan grain traders seeking to import maize from Tanzania were required to register their firms in Dar es Salaam as the country imposed stricter rules to protect its commodities and jobs from shifting abroad.
Read: Tanzania, Kenya face off over maize amid shortage, soaring prices
In June 2021, a month after the State visit by Suluhu to Kenya, the Joint Trade Committee, a bilateral organ comprising officials from the two countries created to resolve issues affecting areas of cooperation, identified 60 tariff and non-tariff barriers between the two countries.
Among the NTBs that were to be resolved included customs clearance of soft drinks made in their territories, removal of inspection fees on processed products with a standardisation mark including wheat flour, and elimination of roaming calling fees following Tanzania’s entry into the Common Network Area.
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Tanzania Declares End of Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak
Tanzania today declared the end of Marburg virus disease outbreak after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on 28 January 2025.
The outbreak, in which two confirmed and eight probable cases were recorded (all deceased), was the second the country has experienced. Both this outbreak, which was declared on 20 January 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in the north-eastern Kagera region.
In response to the latest outbreak, Tanzania’s health authorities set up coordination and response systems, with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, at the national and regional levels and reinforced control measures to swiftly detect cases, enhance clinical care, infection prevention as well as strengthen collaboration with communities to raise awareness and help curb further spread of the virus.
Growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region has been crucial in mounting effective outbreak control measures. Drawing on experience from the response to the 2023 Marburg virus disease outbreak, WHO worked closely with Tanzanian health authorities to rapidly scale up key measures such as disease surveillance and trained more than 1000 frontline health workers in contact tracing, clinical care and public health risk communication. The Organization also delivered over five tonnes of essential medical supplies and equipment.
“The dedication of frontline health workers and the efforts of the national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania. “While the outbreak has been declared over, we remain vigilant to respond swiftly if any cases are detected and are supporting ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
Building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response, measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks. WHO and partners are procuring additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and surveillance and other critical services.
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Source: allafrica.com
