East African Business Week (Kampala)
21 January 2008
editorial
IT is now apparent that the current raging conflict in Kenya, arising from a contested presidential election, may take much longer than expected to end.
As we hopefully await possible solutions, the effect on the country's economy and the economies of its neighbours, which heavily rely on the Mombasa port for their imports and exports, will generally be profound.
While Dar es Salaam has now become an alternative port to off-load cargo, the region could be headed for a recession at a time when Sub-Sahara African economies have been enjoying a boom for close to a decade.
Inflation, the persistent rise in commodity prices is beginning to bite, largely due to the spiraling effect of low availability of petroleum products.
With higher petrol prices, food and transport costs are following suit. And the cycle will continue.
Perhaps one of the lessons from this unfortunate turn of events is that the landlocked countries that have directly been affected by the crisis ought to take measures and protect available supplies from being abused by deceitful traders.
Rwanda appears to have taken cue, with a firm decision to discourage possible illicit activities, especially on fuel.
Petrol in Rwanda has remained at Rwf648 ($1.1), compared to Ush. 2700 (US$1.6) in Uganda, down from Ush. 9,000 (US$5.2) charged at the height of the fuel shortage, two weeks ago.
Unfortunately, in the other countries, it has been a rather disorderly affair, left for each citizen to fend for themselves.
In Uganda, for instance, Police last week had to raid a petrol station in the south western town of Mbarara and compel workers, who had hoarded 50,000 litres, to charge normal prices.
Fuel is also said to be hidden in potentially dangerous places, such as underground tanks, plastic jerry cans hidden in homes and other unsafe places.
East Africa must hold together, even in times of crisis and contain the situation before it spirals out of hand. Measures, such as those by Rwanda and duly enforced, will be quite helpful.
Perhaps, only through managed price control of fuel and transport prices, which spin off negative effects to other sectors of the economy, will help save the region possible gloom, especially if well organised.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 East African Business Week. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
