Uganda has threatened to sue Kenya for stopping its milk from accessing the coastal country.
Kampala said on Friday it is considering to drag the matter to the East African Court of Justice.
Julius Maganda, Uganda’s State Minister for East African Affairs, said that, “We have requested for the Attorney-General to put the matter to the community’s business council as we wait for what will come out of the summit scheduled for February 26 and 26, but if all the options fail, we are considering going to court.”
Kenya has in the past one year had trade related tensions with its landlocked neighbour, especially on milk products, which led to confiscation of hundreds of tonnes of Lato milk from Uganda in 2020.
The Ugandan Parliament has also raised the matter saying Kenya has blocked their products over the last three years, pointing out that it is unfair, yet it (Uganda) acts as a ‘supermarket’ for Kenyan made goods.
Uganda’s Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga, called upon Ugandan dairy sector stake holders to consider legal actions, if diplomatic channels fail.
“I am concerned about the inability to exercise the principle of reciprocity; the Ugandan government has been slow on acting yet farmers are suffering and there is nothing they are doing about their suffering,” Kadaga is quoted by the media
This comes at a time when Kenya’s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya, has announced tighter measures to control the imports of milk coming in from Uganda.
Munya said he had put on notice unscrupulous traders who are illegally importing dairy products through the porous border points near Lodwar, Kacheliba and Ororo and others who are trading with illegal imports in Mombasa and Eastleigh.
Kenyan farmers last year raised concerns over the influx of cheap Ugandan milk in the country, which saw the price of a litre of milk drop to a low of Sh19.
The prices have so far rebounded with the same quantity going for over Sh35.