Kenya now at the mercy of EU on trade deal

Kenya EU Trade Balance PHOTO: STANDARD

Two weeks ago, in impeccable Swahili that reminds one of the long forgotten poet Shaban Robert, Tanzania Parliamentarians rose to eloquently, with a near unanimous vote, block their country from signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). This means without Tanzania, the deal between the European Union and East African Community (EAC) member States is technically dead.

Like the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens would have put it, for Tanzanians, the die on the EPA deal is cast, and now the tree must fall. They have made it clear, through their National Assembly, that they want nothing to do with the deal.