President Yoweri Museveni has expressed his satisfaction that some East African countries have endorsed the idea of uniting to form a single market after Kenya and Uganda signed eight Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) today to support socio-economic development in both nations.
"I'm glad we are working on this issue," said President Museveni, who is in Kenya on an official visit.
He questioned why some African leaders are content with the current state of the continent when significant bottlenecks to development still exist.
"They are content, president, minister. What are you ministering? You are not solving the issue of the market? You are not solving the problem of access to the ocean? How would you develop? How exactly? And you say you're talking about small things, who will be president, whoever is president, you will face those problems," he said during a joint media briefing with President Ruto at State House, Nairobi, on Wednesday.
"So, therefore, I'm very happy to be here and discuss with His Excellency all these issues, because that's what we are discussing."
Museveni, who promised to address the issue further while speaking at the Kenyan National Defence College tomorrow, highlighted that market fragmentation is a significant hindrance to regional growth.
"Here, where the continent is fragmented economically, you have countries like Uganda, the Republic of Uganda, which has no access to the ocean. South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, and even Ethiopia, a big country, also lacks access to the sea. So, and people are not working to solve that," he said, before referencing the United States, which became a superpower by uniting to form a single market.
"... why is the USA prosperous and Latin America in misery? You see those people walking on foot from Latin America, they are going to heaven, to the United States. They are not going to the USA because of their salvation. Why? I think the difference is in the organisation. When those people formed the nucleus of the United States by uniting the 13 colonies of the British, they are the ones who started the core of that prosperity."
He added, "The USA has expanded, it has built a big market, so you can sell from New York to California, the whole space is free, it is one market. But in Latin America, it is a reservoir. Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, I don't know, you can't even count them."
On his part, President William Ruto affirmed that Kenya would continue to uphold its strong bilateral ties with Uganda.
He highlighted the need to address persistent non-tariff barriers that hinder the flow of goods in the region, which have affected livelihoods and the free movement of trading commodities.
Ruto also spoke about the plans to initiate the urban development of the greater Busia metro project, which will run from this year until 2028. This will involve building infrastructure in Busia and expanding the markets, as the city is shared between Kenya and Uganda.
The two nations will also collaborate on joint mineral exploitation to tackle cross-border smuggling.
Additionally, Kenya and Uganda will focus on bolstering capacity building in the blue economy, as well as enhancing food security by supporting the agricultural sector.
Both countries aim to strengthen the tourism sector by enhancing cultural exchange and eco-tourism initiatives.
The two presidents signed MOUs to strengthen partnerships in Mining, Transport, Quality Assurance, Agriculture, Fisheries, Urban Development, Tourism, and Trade.
