Nairobi — A primary motive of commercial enterprise is to make profit. It is for this reason that it's easy to dismiss any grumble from private operators about competition.

However, it is paramount for countries that aspire to industrialise like Kenya to put national interests first where corporate complaints are concerned.

Thus the governments of East Africa should take the recurrent lamentations by cement makers about competition from Asian countries seriously.

Although for long, imports have never really threatened local manufacturers, news that Tanzanian and Ugandan manufacturers are having difficulties moving their stocks should worry everyone.

True, the region needs cheaper cement than currently offered by the seven operators. But we need to ask this: What was the real cost of getting East Africans "smart" on second-hand clothes? And why is oil-rich Nigeria imposing import tariff on cement?

There are reports that Kenya and Uganda intend to reduce the import duty to zero, from 25 percent. But instead of tinkering with taxes, let the five East African countries address factors swelling the price of local cement, including the high cost of power and poor infrastructure.

And more modern manufacturers will address the cement price issue, but given the few local firms involved, price and monopolies authorities must remain vigilant.