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Museveni, Kenyatta launch Busia One Stop Boarder Post
On Feb.24, Presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya) launched the Shs19.5bn Busia One Stop Border Post (OSBP), the second busiest entry point for Uganda.
OSBPs are aimed at easing clearing of goods and passengers at once and not twice at the border of the two countries with the soul purposes being – reducing the time spent on this trade.
Data from the Uganda Revenue Authority indicates that for the last few months the Busia OSBP has been in operation, revenue collection has grown by 45% from Shs 436bn in FY2013/2014 to Shs 798bn in FY2016/17 – due to the faster turnaround time with fuel imports contributing an average of 90% of the total tax revenue collected during the period.
The time to clear goods has also dropped by 80% –queues of trucks waiting for clearance that used to be a permanent fixture here are a thing of the past.
There has also been increased border traffic of persons to an average of 23 buses or 800 passengers (inward/outwards) and 230 trucks of which 90 are fuel tankers, 140 are imports of general goods and 85 carrying export goods on a daily basis.
For Uganda, there has been 56% growth in the value of exports through the Busia OSBP between FY2014/15 to FY2016/17 with top exports being maize, beans and milk.
Frank Matsaerk, the chief executive officer for TradeMark East Africa said, doing business at the border has been cumbersome and the launch of the Busia OSBP would ease the process.
“This is so far the best performing border in the East African region,” Matsaerk said, “We are planning to spend more money on other borders across the region to ease general trade activities.”
On his part, President Museveni said that for a long time, Africans have been asleep but what “we have done today shows that Africa is getting out of slumber”.
Lack of unity coupled with these border separations, he said, have had catastrophic consequences on us.
He added that the Busia OSBP facility will be improved with new facilities like X-ray technology to check loaded trucks and stop using the manual method of checking goods.
Kenyatta described TradeMark as a practical partner in easing trade across the region. He said EAC partners need to work together alongside partners like TradeMark to increase production instead of increasing consumption.
“If we are to compete with giants,” Kenyatta said, we have also have to be giants and fight poverty.”
The launch of the Busia OSBP effectively added the major entry and exit point between the two countries to those already operating under the Coordinated Border Management concept.
This particular post is approx. 200km, east of Kampala and 431km west of Nairobi cities. It handles transit traffic to and from; Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
Its construction started in 2012 and was completed in 2017 with funding from TradeMark EastAfrica. It is part of the US$120 million that TradeMark has sunk in similar facilities at Malaba, Mutukula, Mirama Hills/Kagitumba, Katuna/Gatuna, Cyanika over the years. TradeMark also plans to fund other OSBPs at the borders with the DRC and South Sudan.
