- Kindiki warns fragmented standards are making it harder for African businesses to trade across borders.
- Small and medium enterprises are bearing the cost of repeated testing and certification.
- Kenya backs ARSO efforts to achieve one standard, one test and one certificate across Africa.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has called on African countries to harmonise product standards and certification, warning that regulatory fragmentation is undermining the continent’s free trade agreement and taxing small businesses through unnecessary duplication.
Speaking on August 26, 2026, at the opening of the 32nd African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) General Assembly in Mombasa, Kindiki said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has opened the door to a market of about 1.3 billion people and a combined economic output of $3.4 trillion. But he said the question is whether African goods can actually move through that door.
“This huge market, unfortunately, is fragmented into 54 regulatory silos,” Kindiki said. “In that state, it is no longer one market. It is 54 small markets wearing the costume of one large one.”
Kindiki gave examples of the wasteful duplication he said the continent must eliminate: a cement bag tested in Nairobi and retested in Lagos, a pharmaceutical product certified in Cairo and recertified in Accra, and a solar panel inspected in Kigali and reinspected in Dakar.
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He described this repeated testing as nothing but wasteful duplication and a tax on African enterprise, adding that the burden falls hardest on the small and medium enterprises the continent is relying on to drive its economic take-off.
The Deputy President also pointed to Africa’s more than 40 border crossings, contrasting them with the seamless movement possible within the European Union, where travellers can cross from the Netherlands through Germany into France without a border check. He said a similar conversation is needed on making trade seamless across African borders.
Kindiki said the AfCFTA provides a member-driven roadmap for sustainable and inclusive development, and for accelerating the trade competitiveness of African firms, investment and industrialisation, with a focus on building a single market.
He welcomed progress already made under ARSO’s stewardship, including the ARSO-ISO Enhanced Cooperation Agreement and the Kigali Agreement, and backed the Assembly’s theme, “One Standard, One Test, One Certificate, Accepted Everywhere,” saying it should move from slogan to trade reality.
By Benedict Aoya
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