Despite continued assurances by business and political leaders over the past 10 years that investment in the Central Corridor has made the fear of election-related violence in Kenya irrelevant to Ugandan operations, there was a quick change in fuel prices on the morning of August 10, two days after polling in Uganda’s eastern neighbour and principal sea route.

In earlier interviews with members of the Private Sector Foundation and Kampala City Traders Association The EastAfrican has been told that violence in Kenya would have no effect on Uganda, as the Central Corridor was as good a route for cargo to and from Uganda as the northern route.   

But reports of riots in Kisumu in western Kenya and parts of Nairobi over the presidential election results, have been blamed for an increase of at least Ush50 ($0.01) in the price of petrol at the pump.

Dealers watched Kenya and reversed the price change, a week later, after it became clear that there wouldn’t be a repeat of 2007 when post-election violence caused prices of fuel in Uganda to increase from less than Ush3500 ($2) to between $4-6 a litre.

The temporary increase in the pricing of the fuel came despite Tanzania running media campaigns in Uganda in a bid to shift attention to the Dar es Salaam port.

Tanzania in recent years has invested $593 million in expansion and modernisation of Dar es Salaam port, introduced the single customs territory that allows goods to be cleared at the port of entry and completed the Mutukula one-stop border post.

READ: Election jitters slow down activity at Mombasa port

Central Corridor

These measures have helped to to reduce the time spent in moving cargo on the Central Corridor route.

TradeMark East Africa country director for Uganda Moses Sabiiti, said that clearance times at Mutukula have reduced by 83 per cent. As a result it takes an average of two hours for trucks to clear at the border post.

The Central Corridor performance Monitoring Report shows that in 2016, it took four-and-a-half days for a truck to move from Dar es Salaam to Kampala.

According to the Regional Lorry Drivers and Transportation Association chairperson Byron Kinene, this is almost the same amount of time it takes to move from Mombasa to Kampala.

But despite the almost similar times spent on the road, business people and truck drivers say they still prefer Mombasa port because of the open-mindedness of Kenyans towards foreigners.

“Although Kenyans can be discriminative against us foreigners, Tanzanians are worse,” said Mr Kinene.

He said the discriminatory behaviour affects customer care at the Dar es Salaam port and work ethics needed for hauling cargo, making Mombasa a better choice.
“And if one gets in trouble, say in case of a mechanical problem with the truck or an accident, Kenyan locals are more likely to help than Tanzanians,” he said.

READ: Uganda stocks up fearing losses like in 2007 election

Lost time

Many companies also choose Mombasa over Dar es Salaam because there are more weighbridges on the Central Corridor route, which leads to lost time and a likely increase in costs, as stopping for bureaucratic obligations in East Africa creates a possibility of having to pay bribes.

Mr Kinene added that in Tanzania trucks are expected to pay $500 in road user fee, while the cost in Kenya is $200. All these factors influence the choice of route.
However, even though some businesses think there are a number of disadvantages to the Tanzania route, the East African Business Council chairperson Kassim Omar said that some companies have started using the Central Corridor route, highlighting the case of Total.

The Uganda Revenue Authority has reported that fuel is the leading contributor to the growing imports coming through the Mutukula one-stop border post.

Tanzania in recent years has invested $593 million in expansion and modernisation of Dar es Salaam port, introduced the single customs territory that allows goods to be cleared at the port of entry and completed the Mutukula one-stop border post.

The worth of import goods going through Mutukula increased by 28 per cent from Ush322.4 billion ($88.6 million) in 2015 to Ush414 billion ($113.8 billion) in 2016.

The combined worth of imports through Busia and Malaba remained at Ush10.6 trillion ($2.9 billion) during these two years. 

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