Aug 13, 2008
KRA on the spot over directive
Clearing and forwarding agents want a surcharge levied on the Kenya Revenue Authority for delays to cargo at the port.
This follows hot on the heels of a presidential directive which gave Mombasa port a seven-day deadline to operate on a 24-hour basis.
Category: General
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Clearing and forwarding agents want a surcharge levied on the Kenya Revenue Authority for delays to cargo at the port.
This follows hot on the heels of a presidential directive which gave Mombasa port a seven-day deadline to operate on a 24-hour basis.
“If a charge is introduced so that Kenya Ports Authority or KRA are penalised for delaying cargo, then the authorities would be more efficient,” said Habo group of companies managing director Mr Hezron Awiti.
Kenya International Freight Forwarders and Warehousing Association Mombasa branch chairman Mr Peter Otieno said KRA should allocate green channels to those who import certain goods.
Contacted for comment on the effects of the seven-day deadline to implement the presidential directive, a senior KRA official said Wednesday the authority might be forced to hire new staff, but before that, the current workers will have to put in longer hours.
Mr Kennedy Onyonyi, the senior deputy commissioner in charge of marketing and communications said that high level crisis meetings were being held.
He said manpower was being redeployed to effect Monday’s directive.
“Some of our operations like the Document Processing Centre have been operating on a round-the-clock basis, so we shall be expanding this concept to other operations,” he said.
“We are re-allocating duties to staff and reorganising other resources and we may start round-the-clock operations even before the seven-day deadline,” said Mr Onyonyi.
Port workers welcomed the directive to have Mombasa port operate on a 24-hour basis.
The secretary general of the Dockworkers Union, Mr Simeon Sang’ said workers’ overtime will not be affected by the directive.
