The Moyale One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) on the Kenya-Ethiopia border has commenced operations. Mr Mengistu Tefera, Ethiopia’s head of delegation and Special Advisor to Commissioner-General Ethiopia Customs Commission confirmed the report and said that the move follows the move follows the official launch of Moyale OSBP in December 2020, by both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The border post is part of the planned Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis Ababa corridor linked by the 502-kilometre Hawassa-Moyale road project in Ethiopia, and the Isiolo-Moyale road in Kenya. The Ethiopia-Kenyan border straddles over 830km of its territory, yet has only one OSBP in Moyale, Marsabit.
An OSBP is a border crossing point where migration officials of both countries operate under one roof to facilitate trade and ease the movement of goods and people. A fully functional OSBP is expected to reduce the border crossing time by at least 30%, to enable faster movement of cargo and people.
Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC)
The border post was supposed to be commissioned last year after construction was completed in 2018 at a cost of over Sh 800million, but due to tensions at the border, this was postponed. The perennial conflicts in the area is one of the significant talking points that the two leaders are expected to focus on in their meetings.
“Today, with the collaboration of both governments, development partners; the legal frameworks, construction, supplying office infrastructure and ICT technology and solar power of Moyale are fulfilled and ready for operation,” said Kennedy Nyaiyo, Kenya’s head of delegation and the Secretary of Kenya’s Border Management Secretariat.
Other areas marked for OSBPs include Siftu in Wajir, Markamari, Rhamu in Mandera, Todunyang in Turkana. Kenya and Ethiopia signed an agreement for preferential access aimed at fostering economic co-operation in 2012, emphasizing on trade, investment, infrastructure, food security and sustainable livelihoods.
The two countries also established the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) tasked with driving bilateral ties, in addition to more than 30 agreements and MoUs spanning nearly all economic, social and political spheres including security, defence and trade, movement of people, transport, and culture. Last year’s entry of Equity Bank into the Ethiopian market, four years after KCB became the first Kenyan bank to open a representative office in Addis Ababa, is also seen as a huge boost for Kenyans eyeing the huge market.
