If it benefits ‘common’ men and women, hail this Market

This week the East African Common Market came into effect.

The EAC partners — Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda — are now supposed to do away with all barriers to trade and allow free movement of workers, capital and services.

However, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki is, happily, impatient.

On Tuesday, he announced a waiver of work permit and passport fees for all East Africans.

Thus Kenya joined Rwanda, which scrapped work permit requirements for all East Africans nearly three years ago.

But not all East Africans are impressed.

Their response has been that the East African Common Market will benefit only fat cat traders and professionals — like lawyers.

I was asked pointedly what would be in this common market “thing for the ordinary man and woman on the street”.

Now, some of the best examples of ordinary people benefitting are very controversial.

We shall pick one, nevertheless. But if you are the prudish type, don’t read beyond this point.

The Nairobi-published The Star (it was called Nairobi Star until a few months ago) has some very interesting classified adverts page.

In its issue of July 1, for example, under the “Personal” column, one ad was offering an exotic massage at a parlour with a “big mama”.

Another advertised “beautiful girls from Botswana, South Africa and India”. There was one for “Arab, Ethiopian and Indian girls”.

In this issue, there were no ads for Russian girls.

But there was, according to journalists who track these things, a very popular category— “Ugandan and Rwandese” girls.