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THE REPUBTIC OF UGANDA

MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COOPERATIVES

Rejoinder Statement by Hon. Amelia Kyambadde to Parliament on the

Item "Continued Prohibition of Ugandan Dairy Products to Access the
Kenyan Market" on February 9,2021

1.0 lntroduction
The Rt. Hon. Speaker
Colleague, Hon. Members of Parliament

I thank you very much for having this important item on the Order Paper, and
thus affording Government an opportunity to share with you information on
the steps being taken to address the concern. My colleague, the Honourable
Minister of EAC Affairs has articulated the issues very well. My submission
is essentially to reaffirm the information shared and provide some details
given that we have handled the matter with Kenya jointly.
2.0 Existing Frameworks for Uganda - Kenya Trade
Rt Honourable Speaker and Honourable MPs, our trade with Kenya is
governed by the East African Community frameworks, whose fundamental
principles include:
i, Mutual trust, political will and sovereign equality
ii. Equitable distribution of benefits; and
iii. Co-operation for mutual benefit,

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Since the revival of the EAC, we have made significant progress in
integrating our economies. The impact of these efforts has been positively
unprecedented. For example, total trade between Uganda and Kenya has
increased from US$ 666.83 Million in 2005 when we started implementing
the Customs Union to US$ 1.32531 Billion 2019, an increment of 99% over
the period.
Besides the EAC frameworks, we also have Bilateral Frameworks. To further
deepen our relations beyond the East African Community frameworks,
Uganda and Kenya in 2014 slgned an Agreement to Establish the Joint
lVlinisterial Commission, an elevation of the Joint Permanent Commission
whose Agreement was signed in 1993. The essence of all these institutional
frameworks is to boost bilateral cooperation for mutual benefit.
3.0 lssue; Denial of Market Access to Uganda's Dairy Products
i. The matter of Kenya's Non-Tariff Barriers on Uganda's dairy exports
was a subject of discussion at the lnaugural Session of the Joint
Uganda-Kenya Joint Ministerial Commission held on 21't - 25th March

201 9, which preceded the State Visit by H.E President Museveni to

Kenya on 27tr'' -29th tVlarch 2019. The issue was effectively resolved
during the meeting of the Ministerial Commission
ii ln December 20'19, the mid-term review of the Uganda-Kenya Joint
Permanent Commission was held in Kampala. At the sidelines, the
Kenyan delegation undertook a verification of Uganda's dairy sector
since they had raised concerns about a surge in milk imports from
Uganda that was threatening their own dairy industry, and they had
doubts that the milk was indeed produced from and by Uganda. They
visited several dairy processing factories and farms, and indeed

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 confirmed that the milk was produced from, and by Uganda. However,
the Kenyan delegation refused to sign the Joint Report.
llr. At the end of December 2019, Kenya started denying import permits
to speciflcally Lato Milk; and reportedly raided their distributors'
warehouses in Kenya. The reasons given were that the milk was
counterfeit and sub-standard. vet the oro d U ctwasb et no exoorted bv
Pearl Dairies Ltd. the owners of the Trademark. and the oroduct is
certified bv UNBS
IV The Government of Uganda engaged the Government of Kenya on
this matter, including summoning Kenya's High Commissioner to
Uganda and issuing a Protest Note to him on 1Sth January 2020. We
have never received any response till today.
At the sidelines of the UK-Africa lnvestment Summit held in London in
January 2020, H.E President [Iuseveni engaged his Kenyan
counterpart on the matter, and there was agreement that the matter
would be sorted out through diplomatic engagements.
VI The Government of Uganda has continued to engage the Republic of
Kenya through the EAC structures established to address Non-Tariff
Barriers (NTB), such as the Regional t\4onitoring
Mechanism/Committee for NTBs, and the Sectoral Council of Trade,
lndustry Finance and lnvestment.
vI We have previously made attempts to have bilateral Ministerial
engagements to discuss and resolve the issues, but the outbreak of
the COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures imposed
curtailed this process.
vIt With the easing of the containment measures now, I have had
correspondence with my Kenyan counterpart, the Cabinet Secretary
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 for lndustrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development and agreed in
principle to have a physical meeting to discuss and resolve all the
issues that impede smooth bilateral trade between the two countries
ix, This Meeting is scheduled for the last week of February 2021, and we
are hopeful that we will resolve the matters.
4.0 Conclusion
Rt. Hon. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, the Government of Uganda
will explore all available avenues to resolve the matter. These avenues
include:
i. Continued engagement with the Kenyan Government through the
existing bilateral and EAC structures
ii. Referral to the East African Court of Justice for arbitration

Rt. Hon. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, I submitl

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