A dysfunctional multi-agency team handling clearance of imported goods at Mombasa port has stifled reforms that would have made Kenya an investor’s destination of choice.
Companies staring at possible closure over withheld consignments include flower and horticultural firms that are yet to receive nitrate-based fertilisers, iron and steel manufacturers whose multimillion shilling consignments are being withheld over a tax dispute.
Others include small traders, all of whom claim to have incurred losses worth Sh10 billion.
Tales abound of an uncoordinated containerised cargo being first moved from Mombasa to Nairobi Inland Container Depot (NICD).
This is even when clearly marked, in the process incurring importers losses worth millions of shillings in storage charges that attract a 20 per cent levy.
This is despite importers’ instruction that their goods be stored in Mombasa till clearance. Lack of communication on cargo arrival has also exposed traders to a new challenge, with some of their cargo set to go under an auctioneer’s hammer in a month’s time for non-collection.