The hot and cold trade ties between Kenya and Uganda continue unabated despite a joint communique between the two countries signed on May 17 when President Yoweri Museveni visited Kenya.
At the time, the pair committed to improving bilateral relations for mutual prosperity and development.
Market enquiries, however, revealed that the duo is yet to smoothen trade ties between them with many traders such as dairy farmers in Uganda continuing to bear the brunt of a continued ban on permits for exports to Kenya.
Brookside Limited, owned by parent company Brookside Dairy of Kenya, is among the most affected businesses, with up to 114 export permits denied by the Kenya Dairy Board since March last year.
“We were delighted to read the communique signed by the two countries when the two heads of State met in Nairobi, as we believe it was key to unlocking trade barriers that have existed since March last year. However, we are yet to receive export permits for our long-life milk, which includes powder and ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed milk,” Mr Benson Mwangi, Brookside Limited’s general manager, told a media briefing in Kampala.
Although Kenya has been Uganda’s main market for dairy products, emerging trade bottlenecks have seen Kampala search for new markets, mainly in North and West Africa.
Mr Mwangi said Brookside Limited had written several reminders to the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) on the pending permit applications.
“We are optimistic that KDB could soon implement the tenets of the communique by the two heads of State, which would unlock the impasse and allow us to resume export of our products,” Mr Mwangi said.
On March 6, last year, the milk board stopped issuing permits for Ugandan dairy products in the Ken Trade system, despite a notice banning dairy imports issued by the same regulator having been rescinded by the Principal Secretary, State Department for Livestock Development.
In July last year, Brookside Limited, Uganda’s leading dairy processor laid off half of its staff following the restrictions on export opportunities to Kenya.
The firm said failure of the Kenya government to grant export permits to its products had denied it over 75 per cent of its market, adding that blockades imposed by the KDB had made it difficult for it to continue servicing Kenya, a major market for its products, at optimum levels.
On Wednesday, officials of the Kenya Dairy Board remained mum on the matter.
