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Kenya: Shippers Association Set to Become a Professional Body By June
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Ben Sanga
Nairobi
The Kenya International Freight & Warehousing Association (Kifwa) members are re-positioning themselves for the highly anticipated transformation of the association into a legally recognised professional body by June this year.
Once the association is entrenched into law it is expected to streamline the industry and gain some teeth to bite errant agents, according to the Kifwa Mombasa branch chairman, Mr Peter Otieno.
Mr Otieno said strategies to have Kifwa turned into a professional body, like the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), have been discussed at the forums of the industry members, and that the proposal has been forwarded to the attorney-general.
It is expected that the A-G will modify the proposal into a Bill and take it to Parliament.
Kifwa has been embroiled in leadership wrangles for the last five years, a situation that has left the task of regulating the Clearing and Forwarding agents squarely on the Kenya revenue Authority (KRA).
Indeed the KRA has in the last few years de-registered or suspended several clearing and forwarding agents for failing to fulfil operational requirements.
The axing of such agents by the KRA is now being cited as a major contributor to the reduction of the number of agents from 1,300 to 874 over the last three years.
"I can tell you that this year alone the tax man axed nine firms," said Mr Otieno.
But he was quick to add that the deregistration of some of its members would not affect the flow of cargo at the Mombasa port.
If the move to turn Kifwa into a professional body is realised by June as anticipated, the Association would have vast powers to regulate the industry. Mr Otieno notes that currently the association is unable to intervene whenever an agent makes a mistake like overcharging an importer.
However, once Kifwa is given the teeth it would push for a maximum charge that an agent could charge any particular cargo to avert such exploitation and maintain a modicum of order in the industry, he says.
He says that owing to the increasing number of 'brief case' clearing agents some importers have also been taking advantage of the situation to "kill" established agents by diverting to the former.
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Mr Otieno is particularly concerned that the industry is flooded by non-shipping professionals hence the body plans to train all members once the proposed Kifwa Act is enacted.
"As we wait for the new regulatory changes, we are already training our members through collaboration with the KRA. This is out of realisation that some practitioners are actually not experts in this field; there are those who came into it because they were told that they can make a quick kill," Mr Otieno said in an interview.
The recent suspension of some clearing agents by KRA is proof of lack of professionalism among some players, more so after it emerged that some of those suspended or deregistered were Kifwa officials.
I am disappointed that the article has confused Shipping Association with Clearing and Forwarding Association. The two are not synonymous and should not be so referred to. I wonder whether Mr. Otieno is the one who made the error or the one who filed the story.
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