Trade PS Regina Ombam speaks during the AfCFTA competition policy sensitisation workshop in Nairobi /HANDOUT
Kenya has stepped up efforts to tackle business cartels, abuse
of market dominance and other anti-competitive practices that threaten to
undermine the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The push comes as the focus shifts from negotiating the AfCFTA framework to implementing the trade
deal, with competition policy emerging as a critical pillar in ensuring that
liberalised markets benefit businesses and consumers rather than a few dominant
players.
Speaking at an AfCFTA competition policy
sensitisation workshop hosted by the Competition Authority of Kenya, Trade PS Regina Ombam said fair competition will create opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, which are the majority in Africa
“The issues of cartelism come particularly when a
party to that contract has more information than the other. When we are able to
open up the market by ensuring competition is fair and information is available
to everybody, it dissipates that dominance and allows other players to come in,” Ombam
said.
She said greater access to market information would
help SMEs understand opportunities across Africa, enabling them to produce
goods that meet demand while reducing their vulnerability to dominant players.
The AfCFTA market, which brings together about 1.3
billion people, offers Kenyan enterprises an opportunity to diversify beyond
traditional markets in East Africa.
According to the Economic Survey 2026, the value of Kenya’s
exports to Africa rose 6.4 per cent to Sh452.8 billion in 2025, from Sh425.6
billion in 2024.
However, businesses continue to face tariff and
non-tariff barriers, inadequate transport infrastructure and border challenges
that have slowed the benefits of continental integration.
Competition authorities are also concerned that
removing government-imposed trade barriers will have limited impact if private
restrictions emerge through cartels and dominant businesses.
The AfCFTA Protocol on Competition Policy, adopted in
February 2023, seeks to prevent practices such as price fixing, market
allocation, bid-rigging, production quotas, abuse of dominance and
anti-competitive mergers from undermining continental trade.
Malick Diallo, head of competition division at the
AfCFTA Secretariat, warned that tariff liberalisation could be undermined if
private cartels and dominant firms effectively recreated barriers to market
entry.
The solution, officials said, lies in stronger
coordination between national, regional and continental competition
authorities, greater market transparency and effective enforcement of
competition laws.
The protocol is designed to complement existing
national and regional competition regimes rather than replace them, allowing
authorities to cooperate where anti-competitive conduct crosses borders.
Competition Authority of Kenya director general, David
Kemei, said Kenya’s proposed Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2026 would further
strengthen oversight, including in rapidly evolving digital markets.
He said ratification of the AfCFTA Competition
Protocol would deepen Kenya’s competition framework and strengthen its role in
shaping continental competition policy.
With the AfCFTA push, Kenya has identified
agriculture, livestock and fisheries, manufacturing, handicrafts, mining, oil
and gas among priority merchandise sectors, while services opportunities
include tourism, ICT, financial services, education, health and logistics.
The government is also pursuing trade digitisation and
initiatives such as the Guided Trade Initiative to make cross-border
transactions easier.
AfCFTA officials estimate that deeper integration
could significantly increase intra-African trade by about 45 in the medium-term,
lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty and another 68 million out of
moderate poverty.
The next step for Kenya is ratification of the
competition protocol which will require Parliamentary consideration before
accession and submission to the African Union.
With stronger enforcement, transparent markets and
better information for SMEs, Kenya hopes the AfCFTA will translate from a
continental trade agreement into a practical platform for expanding exports,
investment, jobs and industrialisation.