The US remains concerned with Kenya’s fight against corruption, regulatory gaps in agriculture and customs and transparency in procurement, as a trade deal between the two countries hits the home stretch.
Americans have been hard on Kenya on matters corruption and procurement, insiders familiar with the talks told the Star, part of issues that are still being discussed.
This is alongside trade facilitation and enforcement, environment, good regulatory practices, inclusivity and workers’ rights and protections.
The US has been pushing for transparent and competitive procurement in Kenya’s government.
It also wants effective protection of intellectual property rights, favourable sanitary and phytosanitary measures among other interests.
This, as it seeks to secure business for US companies and a comprehensive market access for agricultural goods in Kenya, by reducing or eliminating tariffs.
The United States tabled a proposed text on anticorruption consisting of nine articles and covering a wide range of topics.
This text includes high anticorruption standards to prevent and combat bribery and other forms of corruption. It includes provisions to address priorities and initiatives of the United States.
“The text recognises the importance of preventing and combating bribery and corruption in the context of labour law implementation and enforcement, and provides for strong obligations to fight corruption related to abusive practices in the recruitment of migrant workers,” the US Trade Representative notes in a summary report.
With a view towards enhancing efforts to combat environmental degradation, the text also recognises the importance of preventing and combating bribery and corruption in the context of strengthening environmental governance and enforcement.
Provisions to prevent and combat bribery include obligations to adopt or maintain measures to establish as criminal offences the bribery of public officials, embezzlement, and money laundering.
Additionally, the text includes requirements for the maintenance of book and 2 records to prevent the hiding of corruption, disallows the tax deductibility of bribes, requires measures for the seizure of assets derived from corruption, and permits denial of entry to foreign public officials who engaged in corruption.
It also requires the adoption of procedures to report corruption and to protect whistle-blowers who report corruption, including protection for external auditors.
Kenya ranked 126th among the 180 countries in the Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.
On agriculture, the US is keen on increasing transparency and regulatory certainty for agricultural exporters and importers, as it eyes a bigger export market for American farmers.
It also encourages US-Kenyan cooperation to promote innovation, fair trade, and individualised approaches to advance sustainability goals, with consideration of the needs of small producers.
The proposed text provides for technical consultations between the parties to cooperatively resolve issues arising under the agriculture text. It also includes annexes on meat and cheese terms, distilled spirits and wine.
Talks on the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) entered the seventh round last week with the next round of negotiations expected in September, according to Trade CS Salim Mvurya.
“We cannot share key positions taken because we are still discussing,” said Mvurya.
President William Ruto and US’s Joe Bidden have been pushing their teams to have a deal before America’s November elections.
The two countries had hoped to have a deal by December last year but talks stretched into this year.
With a bilateral deal, Kenya is keen to tap at least five per cent of the US market, which has the potential to earn the country more than Sh2 trillion in export revenues annually.
Last year, Kenya’s exports to the US were valued at Sh62.3 billion, down from Sh79.9 billion, the Economic Survey 2024 indicates.
More than half of Kenyan exports to the US are comprised of textile and apparel, macadamia, coffee, titanium ores and concentrates, and black tea.
Trade is however in favour of the US as Kenya spent Sh112.8 billion on imports from the US market, an increase from Sh93.4 billion in 2022.
Source: theStars .co.ke
Original writer: [email protected] (MARTIN MWITA)