A fight is looming between two chairmen of parliamentary committees over the botched cancellation of the order compelling importers to use Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to transport their goods to Nairobi.
This followed assertions by the Public Investments Committee chairman Abdulswamad Nassir that his Transport counterpart David Pkosing may have misled the House on the matter.
The PIC chair said in the chamber on Tuesday that he had information on the SGR directive, which Pkosing communicated to the House as having been suspended is still in force.
“The information we have accessed is contrary to what the chairperson reported. It is therefore that the chairperson misled or was caused to mislead this House,” Nassir said.
He implored upon the speaker of the session Moses Cheboi to direct the Transport chair to provide material facts and evidence of the said withdrawal order on Thursday.
“Let him do so or else he be declared disorderly in line with the provision of Standing Order 91 (2),” the Mvita lawmaker said.
Pkosing, during a sitting on August 8, informed the House that the said directive which had been issued by the KRA commissioner general and KPA director had been withdrawn.
Nassir on August 6 issued a statement in Parliament detailing that the circular, which was first issued in respect of government cargo, had caused loss of business in the coast region.
The leader’s concern is that towns along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway are slowly dying for lack of business initially provided by truckers.
He also lamented the lack of clarity in how much levy the government is charging per tonne on goods transported through SGR.
Nassir also sought statistics on the cost and usage of SGR further vouching for a liberal market where private businesses and persons can choose the mode of transporting their goods.
In his message, Pkosing said the committee confirmed that the order was withdrawn and that the ministry was continuing with consultations with stakeholders on how to effect the directive.
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia cited malpractices at the Mombasa Port as the reason behind the policy directive requiring all imported cargo to be hauled by SGR to Nairobi.
The CS earlier told MPs the decision followed concerns that some importers have been evading duty in the current arrangement, hence occasioning losses to the taxpayer.
He said there are cases of importers who were declaring cargo using fraudulent addresses indicating that cargo is meant for Mombasa when it is not the case.
