Cartels. Monopolies. Market abuse. These aren’t just buzzwords \u2014 they are the silent killers of Africa’s most ambitious economic project. And right now, in Lom\u00e9, Togo, trade officials from across the continent are finally having the conversation that should have happened years ago.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)<\/strong> promised to create the world’s largest free trade zone \u2014 54 countries, 1.3 billion people, and a combined GDP of over $3 trillion. But a free trade area without fair competition rules is just a playground for the powerful.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n At the third edition of Biashara Afrika<\/strong>, an annual pan-African business forum organised by the AfCFTA Secretariat, officials are confronting an uncomfortable truth: without a unified competition protocol, big players will rig the game \u2014 and ordinary African traders and consumers will pay the price.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Simeon Koffi<\/strong>, Director-General of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority, didn’t mince words. He identified three brutal realities strangling competition enforcement across the continent:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n “Purely national solutions have shown their limits,” Koffi said. “What we need is stronger collaboration between regional competition authorities and the proposed AfCFTA competition authority to ensure coordinated market regulation across the continent.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Translation: Kenya’s competition watchdog cannot fight a continental cartel alone. Neither can Nigeria’s. Neither can anyone’s.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Think about the industries that shape your daily life \u2014 telecommunications, banking, fuel, food imports. Now ask yourself: how many of those markets are truly competitive? How many prices are quietly fixed by dominant players who face zero cross-border accountability?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Without a continental enforcement mechanism, AfCFTA risks becoming a tool that entrenches existing inequalities<\/strong> rather than dismantling them. Bigger economies with stronger firms will dominate smaller ones. Local businesses will be crushed not by better products, but by anti-competitive muscle.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Togolese Director-General for Trade Claude Talime Abe<\/strong> called for competition policy to move beyond declarations and into practical enforcement. “Competition law must go beyond policy declarations and focus on practical implementation mechanisms capable of supporting sustainable regional trade,” he stated.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Officials from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)<\/strong> backed this position, pointing to their own regional enforcement experience as proof that coordinated mechanisms work \u2014 and are necessary for deeper integration.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Delegates at Biashara Afrika are expected to adopt concrete recommendations targeting four critical areas:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n The forum continues in Lom\u00e9 with discussions on trade facilitation, industrialisation, infrastructure, and private sector development \u2014 the building blocks of an Africa that actually works for Africans.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The question is no longer whether Africa needs unified competition rules. The question is whether African governments have the political will to enforce them against the interests that profit most from the current chaos.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Africa’s Free Trade Dream Is Being Sabotaged From Within \u2014 Here’s What Officials Are Doing About It Cartels. Monopolies. Market abuse. These aren’t just buzzwords \u2014 they are the silent killers of Africa’s most ambitious economic project. And right now, in Lom\u00e9, Togo, trade officials from across the continent are finally having the conversation that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-trending"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Man From ECOWAS Said the Quiet Part Out Loud<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
This Is Personal \u2014 For Kenya and Every African Market<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Togo and COMESA Are Pushing Back<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
What Happens Next Will Define AfCFTA’s Legacy<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n