The Kenyan-Tanzanian trade wars over sugar and tobacco is yet to be seen coming to an  end as effort by the EAC Secretariat to resolve them for the past six months failed.

President John Magufuli of Tanzania and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta were scheduled to open the Namanga One-Stop Border Post to ease the flow of goods between the two countries despite a number of long-standing trade disputes.

The duo is expected to address some of the tariff and non-tariff obstacles that have hampered trade between the two EAC partners.

At the last EAC Heads of State Summit in Uganda in February, the two leaders instructed their officials to iron out these issues but little progress has been achieved so far.

Last week, Tanzania said it will not grant Kenyan confectionery duty-free access to its market, and referred the dispute to a panel of experts for further deliberation.

The Dar government said the industrial sugar used in the manufacture of these goods would not be given duty-free access.

According to a report by the Councils of Ministers, "During a meeting on November 16, Tanzania expressed reservations on the findings of the verification mission, saying the duty-free sugar imported by Kenya in August 2017 still has an impact on locally-manufactured goods and therefore all confectionery transferred from Kenya to Tanzania shall be subjected to external tariffs," said a report by the Council of Ministers.

Kenya protested Tanzania's actions and reiterated that a verification mission was conducted and the report, which confirmed that its confectionery companies did not benefit from sugar imported at zero duty, was signed by respective partner states, including Tanzania.

Nairobi is now demanding that Dar accord the Community's tariff treatment to confectionery from Kenya as per the findings of the verification report without further hindrance or conditions. Kenya has also rejected attempts by Dar to carry out a second verification.

In May, the EAC directed Uganda and Tanzania to undertake a verification mission on sugar by June 24, which saw the Secretariat, communicate its findings in July and request partner states to accord preferential treatment to confectionery provided they meet the origin criteria.

Kenya and Tanzania are also locked in a tobacco trade war, where Nairobi is protesting Dar's decision to impose 80 per cent higher excise duty on cigarette transfers into Tanzania, despite the raw materials being sourced in Kenya.

Kenya, on the other hand, said that this is a trade-restrictive matter and should be resolved at the Community level in accordance with Article 15(2) of the EAC Customs Union Protocol.

Dar argues that it is seeking to protect its contractual obligations with tobacco companies, which require market protection, similar to what Kenya has with Pakistan for rice.