Kenya Deals with Delays in Cargo Clearing at Mombasa Port

Days after the World Bank released a report blaming bureaucratic delays in Kenya for the rising cost of goods in Uganda, the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Kenya Ports Authority unveiled a plan to reduce clearance from the current four days to one.



IDG News Service reports that a new electronic cargo tracking system will be operational before the end of the year. The port of Mombasa handles goods headed for Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).



Wambui Namu, the Kenya Revenue Authority commissioner of customs, admitted that the clearance process that currently takes four days is a costly exercise for the business community. She said that over the years the Kenya Revenue Authority has been modernizing its systems to improve efficiency and it is in the process of rolling out the nationwide implementation of the Simba System, an automated revenue collection system that will interlink offices across Kenya.



The automated system will reduce human interference and corruption.



Namu said that with the new system officials from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC will communicate as soon as the goods leave Mombasa and update each other on the status at border points.