Kenya has started enforcing vehicle importation restrictions, with the revenue authority crushing dozens of unclaimed vehicles and those that have not met the age limits.
There is a ban on importation of trucks of up to 30 tonnes older than three years, ostensibly to comply with the Transport Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s global sulphur strategy.
Starting this month, only tractor heads and prime movers not older than three years from the year of first registration will be allowed into the country, but only up to June 30, after which no used tractor heads and prime movers will be imported.
But this leaves Kenya in a bind; while making efforts to reduce emissions, the other East African Community (EAC) partner states are still importing vehicles older than eight years.
While the EAC dithers on implementing the proposal, Kenya’s new policy has been met with resistance from transporters, especially on the Northern Corridor, who argue that it is against the protocols of the bloc concerning the transport sector. Long-distance transporters say the move will disadvantage their business as it will give their competitors from the other countries an unfair edge.
Sh20 million
The group also says lowering of the age of imports from eight years to three is a further attempt by the Kenyan government to enforce the use of the standard gauge railway to transport cargo, as it will make long-distance trucking more expensive.
“The new rule by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) will encourage more companies to shift their base to other East African countries,” said Salim Karama, a Mombasa-based transporter.
Transporters also argue that the move by the Kenya government to ban importation of used trucks will make them more expensive and unaffordable to many as the cost per truck will increase from around Sh7.5 million currently to over Sh20 million.
Truck owners observed that the move will also not decrease pollution as companies based outside Kenya will import trucks older than eight years, which will ply Kenyan roads.
Efforts to harmonise the importation of used vehicles into the region have often faced headwinds.
In 2020, EAC recommended the slashing of the age limit for imported cars in the region to five years by 2021 to promote local assembly, but this is yet to be implemented.
Disjointed policies
The EAC argued that disjointed policies on age limits among the member states were flooding the regional market with old cars and stifling the growth of new car manufacturing.
Kenya only allows the importation of second-hand cars not older than eight years while Tanzania has set its limit at 10 years. Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan do not have limits.
Used car imports make up about 85 per cent of the 2.2 million cars on the roads in the region.
“Lack of clear policy on age limits has been identified as a factor contributing to increased imports of used vehicles, while also posing adverse impact on environment, safety and health,” said a policy brief submitted to the EAC heads of state.
The policy brief, developed by the EAC secretariat and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, estimated that the region loses about $2 billion in foreign exchange every year on importation of cars.
It also recommended that EAC invest in two large-scale assembly plants that would produce cars with a price range of between $5,000 and $10,000, with the aim of producing 500,000 units per year by 2027.
According to Kebs, the new rules will be applied strictly to all imported diesel and petrol-powered vehicles, including meeting the Euro 4/IV standards that define the acceptable exhaust emission limits for vehicles sold across the world.
As Kenya strives to implement the rule agreed by the standards technical committee of the EAC in Nairobi on November 15, 2019, other countries have remained reluctant.
During the meeting, participants agreed to distinguish the emission limits for vehicles under three major categories: limits for new vehicles, limits for imported used vehicles and limits for in-use vehicles.
There was consensus that limits for new vehicles would be set to Euro 4/IV. Used vehicle imports were required to have at least complied with Euro 4/IV technology at the time of manufacture.
Considering that cleaner fuels were introduced in 2015, it was also agreed that emission limits will be informed by available inspection data in the sub-region to avoid a large percentage of in-use vehicles failing the emission tests.
Late last month, Kebs issued a warning to traders saying only motor vehicles not older than eight years will be allowed into the country and that it will admit second-hand vehicles whose first year of registration is 2015 or after, effective January 1, 2023. Any older vehicles would be rejected at the importer’s cost, a directive that also applies to diplomatic staff.
In a notice issued in November 2022, Kebs advised importers seeking to ship second-hand vehicles whose first year of registration is 2015 to do so before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) announced that it would destroy more than 200 old vehicles at the Mombasa port starting January 4 to reduce congestion at the container freight stations holding the vehicles.
In a Kenya Gazette notice released on December 2, 2022, KRA stated that most vehicles had reached the maximum legal import age stipulated by the government. BY DAILY NATION