The flags of the member-states of the East African Community. FILE
What you need to know:
Access to work permits and tax compliance priority areas for June meeting.
East Africa’s top business executives have chosen access to work permits, tax compliance and low entrepreneurial drive as priority areas of engagement with political leaders ahead of a June meeting in Kigali.
The organisers hope that discussions at this year’s East African Business Summit will give impetus to a long-standing plan to ease exchange of labour and other factors of production.
Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi have been implementing a common market protocol in the last three years, but citizens undergo a long process to obtain work permits or establish businesses.
“Every time you deny an investor a work permit, you end up denying 100 citizens jobs as well,” said KPMG chief executive Josphat Mwaura.
In East Africa, Rwanda and Kenya have abolished fees on work permits but the region’s businesses still have to go through official channels to obtain the documents.
“The states could start by making permits for C-level jobs readily available because applicants are rarely in direct competition with locals yet denying them the documents only increases brain drain,” Mr Mwaura said in Nairobi as the team launched this year’s summit.
Boost labour movement
To boost labour movement, however, the CEOs are also looking at addressing other hindrances to labour movement like conflicting professional standards, different academic qualifications and lack of industrial apprenticeship.
The annual forum, which has been running from 2002, brings together government officials and business leaders in a campaign that seeks to put business at the centre of governance in East Africa.
The theme of this year’s summit is Positioning East Africa for Inclusive Prosperity in 2020 and Beyond.
President Paul Kagame and a number of policy experts will attend the meeting.
About 100 executives of top firms will be invited to the event convened by Deloitte, Nation Media Group (NMG), KPMG, Serena Hotels, PwC and Citi Bank.
“These firms can be agents for change because they control a significant chunk of the region’s GDP,” said NMG chief executive Linus Gitahi. CEOs are also expected to push for harmonisation of taxes as well as implementation of double tax treaties.
They have also lined up discussions on policies on promotion of entrepreneurship in order to tackle unemployment.
The summit is credited with laying ground for the fibre optic cables which have significantly reduced the cost of communication in the region.
The forums also played a role in pushing for value addition in agricultural produce; a feat which conveners say has translated into a number of jobs across the region.
This year’s summit comes against the backdrop of military conflict in South Sudan, up to last year one of the most promising markets in the region.
Citi Bank CEO Daniel Connelly said the forum will also engage the governments in crafting ground rules for public private partnership, Kenya’s chosen mode of financing for its flagship development projects.
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