Economy

Uhuru urges Tanzania, Burundi to effect work permit fees waiver

kandie

EAC affairs secretary Phyllis Kandie. PHOTO | FILE

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday asked Tanzania and Burundi to waive work permit charges in the spirit of East Africa Community (EAC) of allowing free movement of people and goods.

President Kenyatta said the dream of a borderless East Africa would be realised if all partner states honoured an EAC Heads of State summit deal that sanctioned free movement of people, goods, services as well as capital.

“My government provides free work permits to all East Africans and we urge other partner states to do the same,” said President Kenyatta in a speech read on his behalf by Labour Services and EAC Affairs Cabinet secretary Phyllis Kandie at the official opening ceremony of the East Africa Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition.

Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have since waived the work permits but Tanzania and Burundi are yet to ratify the deal.

The deal also allows research, law, architectural and real estate firms from sister countries to offer cross-border services.

The move also saw single visas for foreign tourists introduced with hotels, tours and travel agencies now allowed to offer cross border services.

The cost of a permit in Tanzania ranges between Sh525 and Sh262,500 ($6 and $3,000). In Burundi, it ranges from Sh5,250 and Sh7,350 ($60 and $84).

READ: Eala joins calls for uniform removal of work permit fees

The East African Common Market Protocol which was ratified in 2010 provides for free movement of workers but the governments have retained the permits on policy, health and security concerns.

The EAC was first set up in 1967 but collapsed a decade later because of political and economic disagreements among original member states Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

President Uhuru Kenyatta also called on partner states to look into ways of fasttracking the waiver on double taxation for processed goods saying Kenya had since effected changes allowing free flow of manufacturered products for sale in Kenya at no extra cost.

East Africa Business Council chairman Felix Mosha said intra-EAC trade could be enhanced if private companies sourced for raw materials within the bloc, reducing the import bill and improving money circulation in the region.

Industrialisation Cabinet secretary Adan Mohamed urged firms to start referring to their products as ‘Made in East Africa’, saying the bloc’s image abroad was more popular than names of individual countries.