Uganda and Kenya have agreed to eliminate all existing tariff and non-tariff barriers hindering cross-border trade between the two countries. This was during the bilateral Ministerial Meeting between Hon. Gen. Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, Uganda’s Minister of State for Trade, and HE. Lee Kinyanjui, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade, and Industry, that took place from 29th to 30th of August 2025.
During the meeting the ministers directed that all products originating between Kenya and Uganda to be treated as transfers and not imports. They committed themselves to fully implement all trade related commitments under the EAC treaty and protocols “We have agreed to remove all in discriminatory exercise duties, levies and other charges of equivalent effects. All the duties and charges that are contrary to the EAC Customs Union Protocol are going to be dropped by both countries” Hon Mbadi
Among the levies to be removed is the 10% that Uganda has been charging from maize bran, wheat bran and cotton cake from Kenya.
The ministers started with a visit to Malaba and Busia borders where they held meetings with Border management agencies to assess and establish the causes of delays and congestions at those border points. They gave a series of directives to ease congestion and streamline commerce along the region’s busiest corridors.
At Malaba border, Traders and Truck drivers complained about the multiple check points including at no man’s land which promotes bribery, corruption at the check points, overlapping of trucks in queues, understaffed border agencies, long queues of trucks on both sides of the border among other complaints.
Suudi Motela, the chairperson of the Kenyan Long Distance Truck Drivers Union, described how “queues sometimes stretch for four kilometres for days because officials take long breaks, creating man-made traffic jam.”
The minsters directed border agencies to clear the congestion within 24 hours at both borders and reduce and maintain it not more than 4 kilometres at Malaba and not more than 500 metres at Busia. They also directed border agencies URA, KRA, and UNBS, to immediately address the delays related to multiple check points, to prioritize resources for critical border infrastructure, to upgrade roads and construct bridges, and to establish a standing joint technical committee as a mechanism to monitor and resolve all trade barriers between the two countries, ensuring 24/7 operations.
Hon. Mbadi while at the border meetings, underlined the value of One Stop Border Points: “These points facilitate free and easy movement of goods and services. All necessary efforts are being made to harmonize trade at the border between Uganda and Kenya.”
The reforms and border visits follow directives from H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and H.E. President William Ruto, who in July 2025 agreed that Uganda–Kenya trade should be treated as an exchange, not imports and exports. Both Heads of State tasked their ministers to urgently decongest borders and ensure that the spirit of the EAC Treaty—free movement of goods, services, and people—is upheld.
With policy commitments now backed by on-the-ground inspections, Uganda and Kenya are signalling a new era of cooperation, where trade is not a barrier, but a bridge to prosperity for both nations.
