Trade policy analysts have cautioned the government against signing and ratifying an agreement with the European Union (EU) over fears of undermining regional integration efforts. 

On June 9, 2023, the EU and Kenya announced the political conclusion of the negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The Agreement is now lined up to undergo legal scrubbing and translation before signature and conclusion by the EU Council, upon which the EU and Kenya can sign and ratify. 

According to policy analysts, one of the stated objectives of the EPAs is to promote regional integration. However, the analysts claim, experiences from the EPA negotiations indicate that the EU has been using underhand methods to put African countries under undue pressure to choose between regional unity and solidarity on the one hand and access to EU market on the other.  

Jane Nalunga, executive director at Southern and Eastern Africa Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) says that there is an urgent need to rethink the EPAs in order to make them address Africa’s quest for structural transformation and longstanding challenges and aspirations for structural transformation. 

“We the East African Community (EAC) civil society organisations working on trade and trade related issues wish to register a number of recommendations to the Government of the Republic of Kenya, EAC Partner States, Members of Parliament for both Kenya and the East African Legislative Assembly, African Union (AU) and the EU,” she said. 

“The Africa Union should boldly pursue its agenda of promoting structural transformation through focusing on regional integration and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), beginning from the Regional Economic Communities as building blocks, as envisioned in the Lagos Plan of Action. In its current form, the EU-Kenya EPA undermines this important vision. Africa should not rush to integrate with other continents but should instead look inwards and consolidate her regional integration.”

Nalunga was speaking during a virtual press conference on the Kenya-EU economic partnership agreement on June 26. In 2021, Kenya Exports with EAC states stood at $2.05b with imports amounting to $837m providing a trade balance of $1.2b.

“We appreciate the position of Kenya given that failure to conclude the EPAs would lock the country out of the EU market. It should be noted that Kenya mainly exports vegetables, fruits and flowers to the EU to the tune of $1.3bn, while importing mineral and chemical products, as well as machinery worth $2.2b,” Nalunga said. 

“However, EAC is the biggest market for Kenya’s value-added products such as Cement, Palm oil, Coated Flat-rolled Iron, Soap, Machinery. Therefore, Kenya should prioritize the EAC regional integration because the EAC trade provides prospects for industrial development and structural transformation.” 

"We need to diversify our markets as African countries instead of just concentrating on one single Market. In this case, Kenya is looking at the EU market instead of the 1.2 billion market for African countries," Rangarirai Machemedze, coordinator of SEATINI Southern Africa, said.