ARSO AND KEBS HOLDS TALKS WITH MANAGEMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE OF THE VETERINARY SERVICES (DVS) ON THE ARSO HEADQUARTERS LAND.
Today, The ARSO Secretary General Dr. Hermogene Nsengimana and the Kenya Bureau of Standards, Managing Director General, Ms. Esther Ngari, visited the Directorate of the Veterinary Services (DVS) located at the Kabete Veterinary Laboratories (VETLAB), hosted by Dr. Sabenzia Wekesa, the Deputy Director General of the DVS, for a discussion on a land for the development of the ARSO Headquarters. The DVS mandate, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, is to safeguard animal and human health, improve animal welfare, increase animal resource productivity and ensure safe and high-quality animals and their products to facilitate food security and domestic and international trade.
A historical account on the foundation of ARSO, in 1977 by the African Union (formally the OAU) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), reveals a Pan-African movement and motivation where the role of Standardisation is highlighted as a key pillar for Africa’s Integration Agenda, with UNECA hosting the 1st ARSO Central Secretariat before the Government of the Republic of Ghana took the hosting Responsibility till 1980, but, finally, since 1981 to-date, ARSO Central Secretariat has been hosted by the Government of the Republic of Kenya. Under these historical accounts, the UNECA/ECA representative then, Dr. D. P. S. Wasawo, addressed the ARSO founding Conference on behalf of the Executive Secretary, outlining the various steps the ECA had taken in helping to set up ARSO, including hosting the Central Secretariat in its initial stages, at UNECA in Addis Ababa before relocation to Accra, Ghana and finally to Nairobi, Kenya from 1981, through a Headquarters’ Agreement (Accord) and on a Diplomatic Status.
These Historical accounts reveal that, in receiving the ratified ARSO Constitution in 1977, the then UNECA Secretary General Dr. Adedeji Adebayo appealed to all member States who “have not yet deposited with ECA their instruments of ratification to do so as soon as possible”, subsequently leading to the ratification of the founding ARSO Constitution of 1977 by nine (9) African Presidents (Ethiopia: H.E Lt. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam; Nigeria: H.E. Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo; Cote D’Ivoire: H.E. Felix Houphouet Boigny; Togo, General D’ Armee Gnassinbe Eyadema; Senegal, H.E. Leopold Sedar Songhor; Egypt: H.E. Mohamed Anwar El Saddat; Burkina Faso: H.E. Colonel Saye ZERBO; Ghana: H.E. General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong: Zimbabwe- H.E. Robert Mugabe). With an Original 21 founding member States, including Kenya, currently, ARSO has 43 member States (Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco , Namibia, New State of Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and with Zanzibar being a paying observer member., with the Gambia, being the latest new member States having ratified the instrument of accession in June 2025.
The current Hosting Status by Kenya is based a Headquarters’ Agreement (Accord) duly signed and sealed between the Government of the Republic of Kenya and ARSO on 19th June 1981, and which under Article 1, defines the Hosting Parameters in terms of “The Headquarters area with a building or buildings upon it,” and, under, which the appropriate Kenya authorities shall exercise due diligence to ensure that the tranquility of the headquarters is not disturbed.
During the discussions, Dr. Sabenzia Wekesa, welcomed the KEBS and the ARSO Officials to the Vet Lab institution highlighting the strategic role of the two institutions in promoting Standardisation as Standardisation was strategic for the Mandate of the Vet Lab/ Directorate of Veterinary Services, which focuses on ensuring both animal and human health are safeguarded and with a focus on improving animal resource productivity and ensuring the safety and quality of animals and their products, fostering national food security and international trade through maintenance of high quality animal produce.
Dr. Wekesa, in her welcoming remarks and expression of gratitude for the Kenya Government to consider hosting the ARSO Headquarters at the VET LAB land, noted that the Government was already hosting the AU AIBAR and the IGAD, and VET LAB was impressed to have ARSO also hosted in the same area.
During the Meeting, Ms. Esther Ngari, while appreciating the Kenyan Government and the Successive KEBS Management for the hosting of ARSO Headquarters’ through a rent payment basis, emphasised that the current hosting system does not fulfill the Governments obligation to provide a Permanent Headquarters for ARSO with Buildings and Facility with an assured Tranquillity that befits its International Mandate, Diplomacy and expected, roles, especially in the light of the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, which
under Annex 6 on TBTs, ARSO is a crucial implementing Organization, hence highlighting her efforts in consultation with the Ministry of Investments, Industry and Trade in the realizations of this endeavor
Ms. Ngari in her brief description of the past and on-going interventions, through the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, to address the situation, on the need to accomplish the obligations of the Kenyan Government in the Permanent hosting of the ARSO Headquarters Seat as per the , ARSO-Kenya Government Accord of 1981, revealed that already there has been a Cabinet Memo for the discussions and approval of the allocation for the land for the ARSO Headquarters, in Nairobi, Kenya, which is in tandem with the Agreement, which highlights that “There shall be established in Nairobi, Kenya, the Headquarters of the African Regional Organization for Standardization”.
The Secretary General, Dr. Hermogene Nsengimana while thanking the Kenya Government for the hosting of the ARSO Headquarters in Nairobi, highlighted that from 1981-2004, the Headquarters Seat was hosted at the City Hall Building, at the 12th Floor, before relocation to the 3rd Floor of the International House, at the Mama Ngina Street, at the City Centre.
The Secretary General, while highlighting, the call by the ARSO Council Members, the General Assembly and Stakeholders on the need for Permanent ARSO Headquarters as source of its stability and Sustainability to fulfil its Mandate under the AU Decisions on Trade and Standardisation and the Implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement, due to start in July 2020, noted that Permanent ARSO Headquarters, will give the organisation the Autonomy and visibility as per its Status and Mandate, given the increasing focus on ARSO’s mandate (Programmes and Activities) within the AfCFTA Protocol and expectations, as per Annex 6 on TBTs and Annex 7 on SPS of the AfCFTA Agreement. Additionally, the Permanent ARSO Headquarters will fulfil the provisions of the Headquarters Agreement with the Kenyan Government, with regards to the Immunities and privileges and the Diplomatic Status granted to the ARSO by the Government of the Republic of Kenya, and the provision of adequate Tranquillity for the Headquarters, while also underlining the fact that, like the UN Headquarters, a well built Headquarters, will guarantee more employment opportunities for the Kenya Citizens in many capacities, both at the professional and non-professional levels.
The Secretary General noted that, given the mandate of ARSO, as also highlighted under the AfCFTA TBT Annex 6, article 6, the Headquarters will act as a hub and Focal Point of Quality Infrastructure in Africa and a destination for Major Quality Infrastructure Conferences, Meetings, Workshops, Capacity Building and Trainings in the continent given ARSO’s current Cooperations with International and regional Organisations and Standardisation Stakeholders, and given that Kenya already is a suitable destination for Many International Conferences.
On their part, the African Union and the UNECA continuously, in their Summit Decisions, have already undertaken to emphasise on the responsibilities of the African countries on the importance of Standardisation and the need to strengthen the National, Regional and Continental Standardisation bodies, such as ARSO and their greater Sustainability and stability, to ensure the implementation of the African Economic Blue prints such as the Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), one of the AU’s priority projects under Agenda 2063, and for which Kenya is A signatory and Ratifying State Party.
The Secretary General while thanking Kenya (KEBS) and the DVS for the land offer, noted that the recent developments, have attracted the attention of the ARSO Fraternity, which recently during the 31st ARSO General Assembly events, held in Zanzibar, Tanzania, on 23rd – 27th June 2025 and hosted by the United Republic of Tanzania, on receiving the Report of the progress made by the Kenyan Government in this regard, NOTED, with appreciation, the ongoing engagement between the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Kenyan Government on the ARSO Headquarters Host Agreement and the land allocation for the construction of the ARSO Headquarters in line with the 1981 ARSO-Kenya Government Headquarters Agreement and hosting Responsibilities, urging both parties to fast-tract the process.
The DVS Staff later on conducted the KEBS MD and The ARSO Secretary General to a site visit to view the land, which is bordered by various Government Institutions such as the Kenya Dairy Board and the Sukari (Sugar) Plaza.