President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni assured his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta that it is not his habit to close Ugandan borders even when a neighboring country choose to.
Museveni’s veiled revelation was directed to Rwanda’s Paul Kagame who recently closed Gatuna border claiming Uganda is hosting elements that are planning to topple him.
Speaking on Wednesday in Kenyan Coastal town of Mombasa where he arrived on Wednesday morning, Museveni said trade is Uganda’a lifeline and shutting the border would be suicidal.
Museveni quoted an example in his early days in power, when former President Arab Moi closed the borders with Uganda but he refused to take the path, saying “it was foolhardy.”
“Today, Uganda is exporting more to Kenya than it imports.”
According to Museveni’s spokesman Don Wanyama, these are some of the immediate take-aways from today’s bilateral talks between Presidents Museveni and Kenyatta in Mombasa, Kenya.
Uganda will increase its sugar exports to Kenya from current 36,000 metric tonnes annually to 90,000 metric tonnes.
In a week’s time, Uganda should resume its poultry exports to Kenya, which had been stopped when local dealers sought “protection” from the Kenyan government.
The red tape that Ugandan dairy producers were facing as they exported to Kenya will significantly reduce. These “sign here, sign there” demands had greatly affected dairy exports.
For example, Ugandans will no longer need to obtain authority from the Principal Secretary, Livestock Department, to export dairy products to Kenya.
In a fortnight, Kenya standards agencies and their Ugandan counterparts will undertake a joint verification on the quality of tiles from Uganda, to expedite the process of them being sold in Kenya.
Kenyan beef exporters should smile. The long-standing ban on beef imports from Kenya to Uganda has been lifted immediately.
This ban, which dates back to 1996, was imposed following a mad cow outbreak in Kenya.
