Kenya and Tanzania have a big “Congo problem” with their – and East Africa’s – largest ports, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam respectively.

Last week, things had got so bad at Mombasa port that the time it took cargo to reach Nairobi after a ship’s arrival there was up to 42 days. Everyone was screaming.

Dar es Salaam is equally bad. Some World Bank estimates have it that if Mombasa reached even remotely close to the efficiencies of Dubai port, it could add a record 10 per cent growth to the Kenyan economy.

East African countries like Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan that depend on Mombasa, would also see nearly the same lift in their growth.

If Mombasa got its act together, in other words, East Africa could become so rich, we would have money coming out of our ears.
Instead, Kenya and Tanzania have become like the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country’s mineral wealth is estimated at $24 trillion, more than the combined GDP of Europe and America.

Yet the DRC is one of the poorest countries not just in Africa, but the world. Consider this; the president of a country that is so rich, should not even have to get out of bed to win an election.

However, in the recent election, President Joseph Kabila struggled, and had to shoot voters and steal victory like a common thief.
You have to watch events from the Ugandan capital of Kampala to understand how shambolic Dar and Mombasa ports are.

Every two years or so, Uganda throws a tantrum and announces it is shifting to Dar because Mombasa has become impossible.

Delegations are sent to Tanzania, agreements signed, and pictures taken.

The Kenya media goes into hysterics, announcing that Mombasa is finished, as it will lose business to Dar port.

A few months later, Dar turns into a nightmare for Uganda, and everyone troops back to Mombasa, until another two years later, when the drama starts all over. Today, over 40 per cent of Rwanda’s export and import costs are incurred between Kigali and Mombasa.

It would help if, to start with, East Africans agreed that Kenya and Tanzania can’t run modern ports. Beside basic incompetence, there are too many backward political forces and corruption networks that have captured the ports.

A Kenyan friend, a true nationalist, with interests in the port, is so desperate that he recently remarked, “Mombasa should be given to [Rwanda President Paul Kagame to run.”

However, a better solution might be for Mombasa and Dar ports to be declared “East African Hot Zones,” and given the independent status that the Vatican has in Rome, for example.

The EAC countries would get together and appoint companies who know how to run ports, like Dubai Port or the Port of Boston, to manage Dar and Mombasa. The local political crooks and corrupt networks could still be paid off from the new wealth.

Otherwise, East Africa will sink into economic oblivion if these ports are left in the hands of their “rightful” owners. On the ports, Kenya and Tanzania urgently need to be saved from themselves.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: [email protected]. Twitter: @cobbo3