Kenya has in less than a month been rebuked by at least three members of the nine-member East Africa Community (EAC), with an air transport tiff with Tanzania latest on record.
On Monday, Tanzania announced it had withdrawn approval for Kenya’s flagship carrier Kenya Airways to operate a passenger service between the countries beginning next week.
A statement from the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) said the move was in response to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) denying Air Tanzania the approvals it needed to operate all cargo flights between the two countries.
The two nations have since announced and waved a white flag, with top diplomats saying they are working on a quick resolution of the statement.
"We have jointly agreed that our respective Civil Aviation Authorities will work together to have the matter resolved amicably within the next three days. There should therefore be no cause for alarm,'' Kenya's Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi said on his official X page.
His Tanzanian counterpart January Makamba said "We agree that restrictions of air travel between our countries and from any of our country to a third country shouldn’t stand. With relevant authorities, we’ve resolved to settle this issue, per existing agreements, within three days."
Yet this is not the first time the two countries have imposed restrictions on each other, violating the existing common market protocol.
Signed in 2010, the protocol gives the region a liberal stance towards the four freedoms of movement for all the factors of production and two rights between themselves.
They include free movement of goods, persons, labour, service and capital. Citizens of the six-member state body have a common right to residence and establishment.
Despite this, member countries have continued to undermine the regional integration agenda through the imposition of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade and repeated requests for preferential tax treatment and exemptions.
Kenya has for instance variously blocked onions from Tanzania, a move that saw the commodity price rise by 80 percent early and mid-last year. The southern neighbour on the other hand has occasionally blocked manufactured goods from Kenya from entering, citing poor quality.
Kenya’s trade spat with Tanzania, however, reached a crescendo in November 2017 when Dar es Salaam burnt 6,400 live chicks from Kenya on grounds that they were smuggled into the country.
Later, Kenya would also ban maize imported from Uganda and Tanzania, arguing that the imported crop had been infected with cancer-causing aflatoxin.
Kenya has also had several unfriendly encounters with Uganda, which in December reported the latter to the regional court, accusing Nairobi of frustrating its oil importation plans.
It accused Kenya of going back on the promise to help it import fuel on a government-to-government basis from Arabian producers via the Port of Mombasa.
Nairobi said that although it supports Kampala's plan, there is a pending court case that ties its hands.
The silent trade war is costing the region billions in revenue and economic growth.
The latest Intra-EAC Trade report by the East African Business Council (EABC) shows that the value of trade among the EAC member states fell by more than 33 percent $1.8 billion (Sh288 billion) to $3.6 billion (Sh576 billion) in 2022, from $5.4 billion (Sh864 billion) the previous year.
According to the report, intra-EAC trade was mainly impacted by trade in cereals, which fell to $285.5 million from $607.2 million and trade in mineral fuels, which fell to $175.1 million from $618.2 million in the period.
Trade experts now want regional leaders to intervene to stop the escalation of trade wars that could potentially erode the 145.5 million consumer markets.
Banuel Gori, an adviser on foreign policies at the East African matters at the regional legislation is reading geopolitics in the tussle.
"It started with DRC accusing Kenya of hosting rebels, Uganda on fuel and now Tanzania which wants to feign ignorance on prescribed air cargo rules. It is not healthy for regional integration and growth, ‘he said.
Bakari Bushiri, a regional apparel trader wonders if African trade will ever materialise if the nine states can’t sustain the trade rivalry, echoes his sentiments.
On Tuesday, EAC chairman Salva Kiir unveiled a special envoy to help in tackling disagreements between countries within the region.
In a statement released by the EAC, Salva Kiir confirmed that he would need help in addressing inter-state relations in the region.
“The Chair will soon assign special envoys to support his efforts to address inter-state relations within the framework of EAC,” the regional body revealed in a statement.