• President Uhuru visits ICD and organises a stakeholder's meeting
• Faults consolidators for contributing to delays in clearance of containers at depot
Image: PSCU
The government will vet and register all import and export cargo consolidators to root out tax evaders, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.
Speaking on Monday during a stakeholders' meeting at the Inland Container Depot in Embakasi, Nairobi, President Kenyatta faulted the consolidators for contributing to delays in the clearance of containers at the depot.
The stakeholders agreed that only genuine consolidators gazetted after the vetting process will be allowed to work with the small scale traders in the import/export business.
“There are people who engage in consolidation. They bring goods in containers, claiming they are transit goods while their real motive is to evade paying tax. That is not right and we will not allow it,” Uhuru said.
Uhuru, who paid a second visit to the ICD in two days, assured small scale traders that their goods will be cleared on time once they adhere to the laid down procedures.
“Many times our traders operate without knowledge of the government procedures and we would like all boardroom decisions disseminated to the traders,” he said.
The President, however, warned importers that the government will not relent in its efforts to stem out the importation of counterfeit goods. The head of state said counterfeits were a major hindrance to the development of local the manufacturing sector thereby denying millions of young Kenyans employment opportunities.
On Sunday, Uhuru made an impromptu inspection visit of the ICD during which he called for an urgent stakeholders' meeting to resolve the cargo impasse at the facility.
It was established that the delay in the clearing and release of the close to 1,000 containers was largely due to insufficient paperwork including cargo that is destined for the local market that was declared as export goods by deceitful importers, in attempts to evade paying requisite taxes.
As a way forward, the meeting, which brought together all state and non-state agencies operating at the terminal, resolved to have the containers processed and released to the owners in two to three weeks.
They also agreed to institute reform measures that will reduce the cargo clearance period to a maximum of four days.
During the Sunday afternoon impromptu visit, Uhuru, who was accompanied by Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, his Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho and the unit heads of the multi-agency team leading the crackdown on counterfeit goods, was shown the disputed containers mostly containing items of different traders but consolidated under several importers.
The President said his unannounced visit was prompted by growing complaints of delays in the processing and release of cargo at the terminal by importers, some of whom had reached out to him directly.