Inadequate Infrastructure Hinders Investments in EA

New Vision (Kampala)

October 26, 2005
Posted to the web October 27, 2005

Peter Kaujju
Stockholm

Poor infrastructure and high corruption are major investment bottlenecks in East Africa, a gathering of members from the region was told.

Members of investment authorities of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania with the East African Business Council (EABC) were in Sweden last week to market the region's investment opportunities.

While launching the East African Investment Guide, Tell Hermanson, the secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, Sweden, said the guide would play a balanced role in highlighting investment opportunities in the region, but warned that corruption and poor infrastructure remain key challenges.

"The investment guide to the East African Community is practical because it highlights investment opportunities. But it is a big challenge for the region to fight corruption and develop infrastructure to attract more investments," Hermanson said.

Maggie Kigozi, the executive director of the Uganda Investment Authority, said various measures had been put in place to combat corruption in the region.

"The East African governments have gone through various reforms in the recent past. We opened doors to liberalisation, export licences were removed, state monopolies were replaced with free markets, tax reforms have been done and there are civil service reforms. Corporate governance and labour laws are prevalent to address corruption. Our commercial courts are vibrant," Kigozi said.

Arnold Kilewo, EABC's chairman, said various initiatives had been established to fight corruption.