The Kenyan government has raised new concerns over Uganda's treatment of Kenyan products barely a month after the two nations agreed on a deal to end the stalemate.
Reports from the Daily Nation on Thursday, January 9, indicate that the government has raised a hue and cry over the excise duty charged on spirits, beers and pharmaceutical products exports to Uganda.
Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo indicated that the country would retaliate and charge duties on similar Ugandan products if it did not reverse the controversial decision.
Kiptoo explained that during a summit held in December 2019, the two governments had agreed that Uganda needed to abolish the 13 percent duty on Kenyan products, an action that the country would reciprocate.
The Ugandan counterparts, however, did not honour the agreement, thereby creating a trade imbalance between the two East African Community (EAC) nations.
"Uganda has given an undertaking that it will abolish these taxes, but if they do not, then we will have no alternative but to reciprocate," Daily Nation quoted Kiptoo.
On December 20, 2019, the Government of Kenya slapped a VAT of 16 percent on milk coming into the country from Uganda as part of measures to protect local dairy farmers.
Reports indicate that the measures were informed by farmers' complaints of the price of milk plummeting to Ksh19 per litre in 2019 from Ksh37 in 2018.
The reports also indicated that between January and September 2019, milk imported from the East African Community (EAC) hit 110.7 million litres, up from 3 million in 2016.
The bulk of the milk is reported to have come from Uganda.
