An article by Uganda’s Daily Monitor, dated August 27, 2021, titled Kenya cuts Uganda’s sugar export quota by 79 per cent, has been clarified by Uganda’s Ministry of Trade Industry and Co-operatives.
Daily Monitor reported that Mr Jim Kabeho, the Uganda Sugar Manufacturers Association stated that the massive reduction of the quota was a disappointment, noting that this was against the 90,000 tonnes agreement that had been reached earlier.
“This is a crisis, and we have to go back to the drawing board. We don’t know why Kenya, our main trading partner, has taken this direction,” Mr Kaneho was quoted.
Business Daily in an article dated August 26, also reported the same.
Business Daily reported that the Sugar Directorate in Kenya detailed that traders will only be allowed to import 18,923 metric tonnes of sugar from Uganda, down from 90,000 metric tonnes that Kenya had earlier said would be shipped in from the neighbouring country.
The 90,000 tonnes, was an agreement between Kenya’s Trade Cabinet Secretary, Betty Maina, and her Ugandan counterpart signed in April 2021, according to the article.
It further noted that Kenya has been at loggerheads with Uganda over sugar imports with local producers arguing that the commodity coming from the landlocked neighbour originates from third party countries.
“The move that is likely to escalate the ongoing trade dispute between Nairobi and Kampala,” reads an excerpt from the article.
Business Daily’s article was curated by MSN (Microsoft) International Edition.
The claims were also spread across social media pages, with pages such as AIB-AXYS Africa on Twitter claiming that, in the revised quota, countries from Southern Africa will account for the largest share of imports under the COMESA window.
However, the Ministry of Trade Industry and Co-operatives, Uganda in a statement dated August 31, 2021, stated that the Daily Monitor article is a misrepresentation of facts, and authors did not seek clarification from the responsible government institutions.
Permanent Secretary, Geraldine Ssali highlighted that;
- Uganda's sugar export to Kenya is governed by two regimes: under the COMESA Kenya Sugar Safeguard, and the EAC / Bilateral trade regimes.
- Following the April 2021 Uganda - Kenya Bilateral Ministerial meeting, Uganda's annual sugar export quota to Kenya was increased from 55,000MT to 90,000MT; consisting of both the COMESA Kenya Sugar Safeguard and the bilateral quotas.
- Under the COMESA Kenya Sugar Safeguard, the quota available to all COMESA sugar exporting countries, including Uganda, is calculated using a formula adopted by the COMESA Council of Ministers. The formula assigns a weight of 30 % to ' Intra - COMESA Sugar Trade ' and 70 % to Surplus Sugar for each respective country, applied in the context of the projected Kenya sugar deficit.
- The data used in the application of the formula is from internationally accredited sources, notably the International Sugar Organization (ISO) and the COMESA.
"In view of ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) above, the sugar export quota available to Uganda in 2021 under the COMESA Kenya Sugar Safeguard window is 18,923.63MT. The balance of the 90,000MT annual quota ( i.e. 71,076.37MT ) is catered for under the EAC / Bilateral window."
“In fact, as at the end of June 2021, Uganda had exported 31,256.95MT to Kenya - well above the 18,923.63MT that the Daily Monitor Story claims to be the new quota allocation after the ‘79 per cent cut '. Therefore, The Daily Monitor story only considered the quota available under the COMESA Kenya Sugar Safeguard window and left out the bilateral window. Subsequently, there was a misrepresentation of facts.
“The public is urged to note the correct information as provided above, and disregard The Daily Monitor story. I also urge the media to always crosscheck facts with relevant Authorities before publishing information, especially information that can potentially have a negative impact on bilateral relations between Uganda and her partners,” the press release by Permanent Secretary, Geraldine Ssali read.
Uganda Media Centre, the Government of Uganda's Official centre for Public Communications further reiterated the same through a tweet dated September 1, 2021, stating that Kenya has not cut Uganda’s sugar export quota.
“Following the April 2021 Uganda-Kenya Bilateral Ministerial meeting, Uganda's annual sugar export quota to Kenya was increased from 55,000MT to 90,000MT,” Uganda Media Centre stated and shared the press release issued by the Ministry of Trade Industry and Co-operatives, Uganda.
Digital Journalist John Mbati ascertained that the claims are misleading and can cause harm to cohesion, business economy and international relations between Kenya and Uganda.
This fact-check was produced by Kenyans.co.ke's John Mbati in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.