Ugandan businessmen have blamed the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for cargo clearance delays at the Mombasa port.

They said that whereas they appreciate improvements in cargo clearance, delays at the port were still rampant since it takes four to seven days to clear the cargo out of the port.

"The document processing is good as you need to wait for only an hour for an entry to pass. However, the problem arises when it comes to releasing the cargo which takes four to seven days," said Mr William Kidima, a representative of the Ugandan business community at the port users forum.

In an interview with Shipping News, Mr Kidima said the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has improved its services a great deal over the last few years, but the shippers might not benefit fully from the port reforms due to the tedious clearance procedures on the part of the Customs.

"KRA should play its part well if the shippers and the clearing agents are to realise the benefits of port improvements. The KRA efficiency is not only good for the port users, but for the economy of the EA region as a whole hence we expect it to meet our expectations, "he said.

He added that the period between the time an entry is made to the time the cargo is cleared from the port should be as a matter of policy and practice reduced to a maximum of three days.

Mombasa port stakeholders, he said, should take the issue of delays seriously by borrowing a leaf from a country like Malaysia where he noted a customs officer is forced to give an explanation any time he or she occasions a delay of more than one hour.

He pointed out that the volume of cargo handled by the port of Tanga in Tanzania was increasing very fast after the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) eased its handling procedures, which have witnessed the cargo leave port within a day.

Full benefits

This development, he said, was also favoured by the ongoing revitalisation of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) recently acquired additional rolling stock from the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Kidima, who has sat on various committees including one that advised the industry on strategies to reduce the dwell time, said only after the outstanding problems of delays at customs were sorted out, would the port users be able to realise the full benefits of the Simba system - the computerised cargo clearance system.

He said a general feeling among port users from Uganda was that KRA has advertently or inadvertently failed to implement recommendations of the task force that deliberated on the port dwell time and those of the port users' forum.

"The operation meetings of the port users' forum have been useful to all users. If all parties acted on the suggestions we would not have problems," the Ugandan businessman said, adding that implementation appeared to be the main problem.

Mr Kidima said the Ugandan business community was happy to notice that the KRA has actively participated in the stakeholders' forum by sending senior officers to represent the taxman and respond to queries raised by customers.

He said the Ugandan business community was satisfied with the performance of the KPA, which has invested heavily in the renewal and refurbishment of cargo handling equipment over the last five years, a situation which has ensured quick off loading and movement of the cargo.

"With KPA, everything is done on time including off loading and processing of documents; KRA needs to take the cue," he said.

He said that the services of the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) have not changed for the better and the concessioning teams from both Uganda and Kenya owed the shipping community an explanation as to why nothing seemed to be moving.

"If anything, the availability of the wagons has only worsened because demand for rail service is high but there has not been any acquisition of additional wagons by RVR," he said.

He argued that the shipping community should not blame the RVR, but should blame the concessioning teams who are supposed to constantly monitor and tell Kenyans and Ugandans whether the concessionaire was meeting the requirements agreed upon at the time of concessioning.

He said the cost of transport between Mombasa and Kampala was too high at Sh220, 000 per 20-foot container, which was a 35 to 50 per cent increase over the last three years.

Shoot up

"With these costs, you should not be surprised when prices of other commodities shoot up," he says.

He said the Government should' promote all efforts that are geared at reducing transport costs, among them being prioritisation of infrastructure development.

Uganda commands the biggest share of transit traffic through Mombasa port compared to the other major users Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Burundi.

The volume of exports and imports of the four countries that passed through Mombasa last year totalled 4.4 million tonnes.