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The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has revealed to the Senate that it has so far seized illicit goods with a market value of Ksh 897.24 million in the current financial year.
While appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Trade, Industrialization and Tourism, KRA Commissioner General Humphrey Wattanga said the nabbed products was as a result of its agents implementing 976 interventions on illicit trade in the FY2023/24.
This comes amid heightened surveillance which targets to rein in production and sale of illicit liquor which has resulted to loss of lives and revenue to the government.
According to Wattanga, KRA has stationed its Officers at all excisable goods manufacturing plants across the country in a bid to enhance compliance with the law.
The authority has further placed its officers at factories producing excise tax-covered goods such as beer, wines and spirits, cigarettes, mineral water, soft drinks, juices among others as prescribed by the Excise Duty regulations.
The officers, also known as resident staff implement compliance, service support and enforcement initiatives including disclosure of any irregularities and discrepancies to ensure correct payment and filing of excise taxes by the manufacturers.
Wattanga told senators that as resident staff are meant to complement other monitoring measures such as CCTV cameras inside factories wired to KRA system to enhance security.
KRA was responding to a petition tabled before the Senate asking the Authority to provide information on what it is doing to enforce tax compliance at manufacturers like EABL.
KRA noted that there are no variations in manufacturing ingredients that has tax implication dating back to 5 years. It was reported that Kenya Breweries Limited contributed over 60pc of domestic excise collections in FY 2021/22 and 2022/23.
KRA told the committee that it continues to collaborate with other government agencies within the multi-agency framework to promote legitimate trade and protect the society against harmful products such as illicit alcohol, through various operations, border patrols, surveillance and monitoring of cargo.
BY KBC NEWS