East African Business Week

Kampala, Uganda - With the coming into force of the protocol on the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market, Uganda and her EAC counterparts are working towards execution of competition laws to address issues concerning national competition in their respective markets and in the common market.
Reports from Kenya, the EACs biggest economy, show that a new law charged with governing competition in the country, has already been reviewed.
Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta, said last month the Kenyan Government had reviewed the law it had been operating under and enacted the Competition Act 2010, which is expected to commence on July 1, 2011.Competition law generally aims at protecting competition in a free market economy, where allocation of resources is ordinarily determined solely by supply and demand.
In Uganda, the Competition Act still seems far from being reached.
Reports from Uganda's Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry (MTTI), show that the draft is still under consultation.  "Our competition law is in working progress," Uganda's Commissioner External Trade MTTI, Mr Silver Ojakol, said.
"We have a competition law for East Africa, but it only handles cross border issues. It does not handle internal matters. However, Uganda has a competition law. The draft will be subjected to stakeholder consultation," Ojakol added.
Telecom companies in Uganda and the region have recently dropped their prices to deplorable figures as the aggressive competition for market share rises.
Similar competition trends have also rocked the banking and beverage sectors.
Currently, Uganda has a draft Competition Bill which has not been presented before Parliament for debate, or circulated to stakeholders for discussion, which means that there are barely any terms of reference regulating  competition in the country.
Ms Brenda Ntambirweki, an associate with Sebalu and Lule Advocates, contends that while competition is good for consumers, it is equally important for it to be regulated through stronger laws.
"The major economic goal of the competition law is making the markets work well for consumers, Ntambirweki says.
Ntambirweki argues that the interests of consumers are protected not only by protecting the competitive process of supply and demand, but by taking direct action against offending undertakings.
She says another objective of the competition law is the dispersal of economic power and the redistribution of wealth, which she sums up as the promotion of economic equity rather than efficiency.
"It has been argued that the very notion of democracy can be threatened by aggregation of resources in the hands of monopolists, multinational corporations and conglomerates," Ntambirweki said.
Competition law also aims at protecting competitors. In many jurisdictions with common markets such as the European Union, competition law has been applied to protect small firms against their more powerful rivals.
Policy analysts contend that leaving competition unregulated can only be devastating given the fact all the EAC countries have vibrant markets and that
Passing the awaiting competition law in Uganda is being viewed as a step in the right direction
Kenya's law covers all generic issues of competition regulation, including mergers and acquisitions, abuse of dominance and control of restraints in trade while providing consumer protection.