KAMPALA, Jan 18 (NNN-KBC) — Kenya and Uganda have affirmed their commitment to East African regional integration with the vice-presidents of both making bold statements here.

Kenyan Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka said Saturday that the region’s artificial borders were uneccessary barriers which would soon be abandoned in favour of free movement of citizens, good and services and roaring cross-border investments and trade.

Speaking at a dinner he hosted for the visiting Kenyan delegation, Uganda’s Professor Gilbert Bukenya saw the sharing of a common flag and currency in the future and praised the cordial relationship between Kenya and Uganda.

“Why can’t we share a common flag and why can’t we have a common currency. No one can tell the difference between a Kenyan and a Ugandan on the streets of London?” asked the Ugandan leader.

Musyoka noted that the people of East Africa were linked geographically, economically and culturally and their future survival was in integrating their economies and boosting cross-border trade. “Artificial borders must give way to more empowered, free-moving East Africans who are capable of working and investing in Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda,” he said.

He added that Kenya valued its bilateral relations with Uganda and would do everything within its power to keep the ties warm and strong. ” We have come to Kampala to affirm our strategic relations. Uganda remains Kenya’s number one trading partner. Mombasa remains your sea port of choice and the Kenya-Uganda Railway continues to bind us economically.”

The Kenyan vice-president was accompanied on the visit here by members of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), members of Parliament Eugene Wamalwa and Isack Muoki and Equity Bank chief executive James Mwangi.

Prof Bukenya said although trade between Uganda and Kenya was now heavily in favour of Kenya by 400 million USD annually, the gap was narrowing rapidly. — NNN-KBC

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