Counterfeit goods worth Sh500 million entering through the Mombasa port were seized by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency in 2018-19.
During the period, goods worth Sh18 million were destroyed, while Sh270 million consignments are earmarked for destruction awaiting the conclusion of legal determinations as 20 cases are pending in court.
This is according to the head of the agency’s Coast region operations. ACA Coast region head Yusuf Osman said that seizure of fake goods recorded a sharp increase during the period compared to 2017-18. He spoke at an innovation pipeline workshop organised by the Kenya Bureau of Standards in Mombasa.
"This was a great improvement because we tripled the amount of seized goods from the previous year,” he said.
“With the multi-agency approach and with the collaboration of agencies relevant in combating counterfeits, the country might be realising a fruitful outcome."
According to the official, the performance of enforcement activities in curtailing the illicit trade goes a long way in cutting the influx of imitated products and ensuring only genuine goods find their way into the market.
However, challenges still exist, including shifting government policies, smugglers’ deceptive ways, porous entry points and gaps in the cargo verification mechanisms at the port, making room for penetration of fake goods.
Furthermore, free movement of transit and transhipment cargo rendered by bilateral agreements has also been cited as enabling smugglers other avenues of exploitation.
“Due to heightened multi-agency efforts entities involved in the illicit trade have been disguising as operating in Uganda and Tanzania, therefore, making it easy for them to move goods into the country,” Yusuf said.
On transshipped goods where cargo arriving at the port is offloaded and loaded onto other vessels in transit to other destinations, smugglers are said to often falsely declare their cargo as transhipment goods and eventually find their ways to move it back to the Port of Mombasa and into the local market.
“Cargo inspectors are restricted from interrogating transit or transhipment goods unless there is solid intelligence indicating suspicion, otherwise such cargo is allowed free movement through the port,” he added.
A study by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers estimated that manufacturers in the country lose in excess of Sh4.2 billion annually, while the government loses about Sh8 billion in taxes and fees.
According to another research conducted by the ACA three years ago, local manufacturers and suppliers estimated the market value of their products being counterfeited in urban Kenya standing at 23 per cent level.
Globally, leading industries that have been affected include software, luxury goods, fashion clothes, sportswear, perfumes, toys, motor vehicle spare parts and accessories, and pharmaceuticals.
