Kenyan importers and investors in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda have decreed an increased cost of doing business. This follows the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) announcing that all goods passing through the Mombasa Port should will pay cash bonds. The cash bonds will be expected to be equal to the total value of tax that would be charged on them if they were to be sold in Kenya. KRA officers in Mombasa started demanding these cash bonds two weeks ago, but before then, import goods headed for the Great Lakes region hinterland through the Mombasa Port, were being cleared by KRA through the use of insurance bonds.
A 20-tonne container of sugar for instance will now pay up a bond of KES 3.3 million before being released from the port. Traders have termed this regulation as ‘unrealistic’ because their containers are already stuck since they cannot raise the bonds in lumpsum amounts. On top of that, demurage charges for those containers lying at the port will still be accumulating.