Does any Wazuan know the end goal of this company?

They say that their purpose is to support the growth of trade. And as much as I believe that, I just feel like there's something off about the organization.

If their purpose is to support trade in East Africa, why is it that all their funding comes from European and Canadian governmental organisations? Why doesn't it come from East African governments themselves?

Their board members are three-fifths East African citizens. But even though that's the case, I feel like they're just there as token board members. I mean - Pascal Lamy? A shifty-looking French dude from the WTO? Why do I feel East Africa tunaenda kufanyiwa ukoloni mamboleo French-style na this jamaa?

Also, with regard to their board structure, that says one thing. But if you look at their annual reports, the people who appear in those first-first pages say a whole different thing about who's running the show.

Now, I'm all for increased trade in our Jumuiya, and I'm not trying to bite the hand that feeds us. I just want to know whose hand it belongs to.

Any help, tafadhali?

Conspiracies abound but there is nothing to stop any nationality from forming an organisation to advise the EAC in integrating their Customs Union/ Common Market protocols.

What I can bet is that no EAC firm has capacity and experience for that kind of work.

On the other hand, I am sure TMEA works with many locals and perhaps subcontracts local firms in course of their business.

The proposed scale-up to TMEA’s regional and national programmes is expected to help reduce transport times along the northern and central corridors by 15%, and increase EAC exports by 10% above trend – roughly double the benefits from TMEA’s existing commitments, and delivering an estimated forty times greater benefits than costs. Specific results by 2016 from the regional programme will include:
⦁ EAC legislation enacted to operationalize the EAC Single Customs Territory, and regional tax code agreed by EAC Council of Ministers;
⦁ 16 regional agreements on mutual recognition of standards signed, faster removal of non-tariff barriers through use of a regional dispute settlement mechanism, and 16 regional NTBs removed;
⦁ Revision of 10 EAC commercial laws/regulations as required by the EAC Common Market Protocol, domestic tax procedures revised in 4 EAC countries, and SME tax procedures revised in 2 EAC countries;
⦁ Four additional government agency electronic single windows (SWIFTs) operational;
⦁ 100% of customs transactions completed electronically;
⦁ Over $50 million in annual savings for East African businesses as a result of the proposed new regional customs bond scheme (ASSET);
⦁ Improved capacity, including financial management capacity, at the EAC Secretariat;
⦁ At least 10 grants awarded under the TMEA Challenge Fund;
⦁ 15 regional PSOs/CSOs mentored in relevant areas of regional integration;
⦁ 150 men and 150 women trained in trade negotiations, sustainability, advocacy and monitoring and evaluation from regional PSOs and CSOs;
⦁ 4,289 freight forwarders trained to provide better transport logistics services for businesses.
These regional programme results will complement the results from the separately funded TMEA country programmes, which include establishment of 6 one stop border posts within the region and key regional infrastructure investments such as the improvement programmes at Mombasa and Dar ports.

UK Policy
⦁ Support for regional integration in Africa is an important priority for UK policy. The 2011 White Paper on trade identifies support for African trade and regional integration as essential to promote growth and poverty reduction. DFID’s 2012-2015 Business Plan has key commitments on regional trade including a very specific target to cut by 30% the average time taken for goods to cross international borders in at least five locations in Eastern and Southern Africa.
⦁ The UK’s strong support for integration in the Africa region is captured in the Africa Free Trade Initiative (AFTi), which was launched by the Secretary of State for International Development in February 2011. This initiative aims to build on the political momentum for faster economic integration in Africa and to support a coalition of public and private investors that can effectively overcome trade barriers. Major commitments have been made to: help cut the red tape that hinders trade; improve regional infrastructure; and to support the reduction of tariffs through the negotiation of a Tripartite Free Trade Area that covers the EAC, COMESA and SADC.

⦁ TMEA has used its regional funding to achieve several key results so far:
⦁ Attracting private sector infrastructure investment: keen interest was shown following the successful Tripartite Infrastructure Investment Conference in September 2011, with $1 billion in priority infrastructure projects highlighted. Action has already started with private and public sector financiers.
⦁ Improving inefficient transport logistics constraining private sector growth: work on reducing transit times by at least 30% at six border posts (with an average IRR of 38%) is well under way, with construction started at two.
⦁ Establishing detailed monitoring and evaluation systems for the implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol in ministries of EAC affairs in each partner state.
⦁ Designing ASSET, a unified customs bond scheme which is being piloted by the Governments of Tanzania and Burundi.
⦁ Increasing self-sufficiency: the revenue authority in Burundi continues to record impressive results, with revenue up around 40% year-on-year.
⦁ Increasing private sector participation: six business groups (product standards, tax harmonisation, women and trade, financial services, professional services and tourism) have been established so far to ensure that private sector views are at the heart of regional policy.

TMEA overall key results by 2016 (for the fully funded TMEA portfolio ):
⦁ $1.8 billion increase in total value of exports from the EAC to the rest of the world above the trend (impact level result)
⦁ 15% reduction in average time taken to import or export a container from all East African countries (outcome level result)
⦁ 11 day reduction in time taken to import a container to Burundi from Dar es Salaam port (outcome level result)
⦁ 7 day reduction in time taken to export a container from Burundi to Dar es Salaam port (outcome level result)
⦁ 3 day reduction in time taken to import a container to Rwanda from Mombasa port (outcome level result)
⦁ 8 day reduction in time taken to export a container from Rwanda to Mombasa port (outcome level result)
⦁ 25% reduction in cargo clearance time at all border posts as a result of introducing harmonised border information systems (outcome level result)
Key results of regional programmes by 2016 (for fully funded regional programme, not just incremental investment):
⦁ 16 regional NTBs removed (outcome level result);
⦁ Four government agency single windows (SWIFT) operational (output 1 result);
⦁ Annual savings of more than $50 million for businesses in East Africa as a result of introducing ASSET, the regional customs bond scheme (output 1 result);
⦁ 4,289 freight forwarders trained to provide better transport logistics services for businesses (output 2 result);
⦁ 16 regional agreements on standards or mutual recognition of standards signed (output 3 result);
⦁ Faster removal of NTBs through use of a regional dispute settlement mechanism (output 3 result);
⦁ Improved financial management at the EAC Secretariat (output 4 result);
⦁ Revision of 10 EAC commercial laws/regulations as required by the EAC Common Market Protocol (output 4 result);
⦁ Domestic tax procedures revised in 4 EAC countries (output 4 result);
⦁ SME tax procedures revised in 2 EAC countries (output 4 result);
⦁ Regional tax code agreed by EAC Council of Ministers (output 4 result);
⦁ EAC enacts legislation to operationalize the EAC Single Customs Territory (output 4 result);
⦁ At least 10 grants awarded under the TMEA Challenge Fund (output 5 result);
⦁ 150 men and 150 women in trade negotiations, sustainability, advocacy and monitoring and evaluation from regional PSOs and CSOs (output 5 result);
⦁ 15 regional PSOs/CSOs mentored in relevant areas of regional integration (output 5 result).