Coordinated border management and trade facilitation at Namanga border post, Kenya

Abstract

Trade facilitation at the Namanga border post is currently facing a number of challenges that result into delays of clearance of goods across the Kenya-Tanzania border. The situation often encourages increased smuggling of goods as traders try to use shortcuts to avoid government agencies’ bureaucracies that always cause losses to several businesses due to delayed movement of commodities across the border. All these challenges are associated with disjointed coordination of trading by different agencies involved. The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of coordinated border management on trade facilitation in Kenya, focusing on Namanga one-stop border point. Specific objectives of the study included: to establish the effect of cooperation among border agencies, coordination between border agencies, border collaboration challenges between border agencies, coexistence among border agencies, and the effect of communication among border agencies on trade facilitation at the Namanga border point. New Trade Theory and Export Base Theory were used in the study. The study adopted causal research design and a target population of 140 staff of border control agencies at Namanga Border Point. Census was used to include all of them in the study where primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive (frequencies & percentages) and inferential (multiple linear regression) data analysis methods. The study’s key findings indicated that a unit increase in cooperation among border agencies would lead to a 0.153 increase in Trade facilitation at Namanga Border Post (β1=0.153, p=0.008<0.05); a unit increase in for Coordination of border agencies would lead to a 0.246 increase in Trade facilitation at Namanga Border Post (β2=0.246, p=0.014<0.05); a unit increase in Collaboration between border agencies would lead to a 0.123 increase in Trade facilitation at Namanga Border Post (β3=0.123, p=0.03<0.05); a unit increase in Coexistence among border agencies would lead to a 0.232 increase in Trade facilitation at Namanga Border Post (β4=0.232, p=0.001<0.05); a unit increase in cooperation among border agencies would lead to a 0.331 increase in Trade facilitation at Namanga Border Post β5=0.331, p=0.000<0.05). The study concluded that coordinated border management has a significant effect on trade facilitation at Namanga border post. The study recommended that there is need for the government and other key stakeholders to adopt international standards and tools of trade, such as SAFE Framework of Standards and performance of Time Release Study (TRS), that will help the identify bottlenecks and the border and address them efficiently. The study suggested that a comparative study should be carried out on the effect of coordinated border management on trade facilitation in at least two border points. A study should also be conducted on how the government is addressing challenges of coordinated border management to improve trade facilitation