Gitonga Marete
6 July 2009
Nairobi — All bulk imports of rice and fertilizer coming through the Mombasa port will now be subjected to 100 per cent verification.
The move follows rising cases of smuggling of sugar into the country that is being imported by unscrupulous business men who disguise the commodity as rice or fertilizer.
The move to seek verification, which will be carried out at the port and Container Freight Stations receiving the cargo comes in the wake of revelation that some CFSs are colluding with a cartel of businessmen engaged in the illegal imports.
Initially containers for verification were being sampled before they are opened to ensure that they contain the declared cargo. If 20 containers were imported, only about five would be opened for verification.
However, unscrupulous importers have lately colluded with CFS officials where only containers with the declared cargo are opened for verification while those with the smuggled cargo are left unchecked.
With the new requirement, all containers with rice and fertilizer will be required opened to verify they actually contain the declared cargo.
The dealers import a consignment of say 50 containers which they declare as rice originating from Pakistan, but with up to 10 of them containing sugar, chairman of the Mombasa sugar imports committee Mr James Sirro said yesterday.
"The consignments come through the port of Sharja in the United Arab Emirates and when they get to Mombasa they are declared as rice. Over the past one month about 500 metric tons of sugar has been imported in this manner," said Mr Sirro, who is also Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) coast regional manager.
He said the committee, which comprises of officials from KSB, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards is already investigating two CFSs whose owners are alleged to be collaborating with the importers.
"We (KSB) are collaborating with these government agencies to ensure that illegal sugar imports don't find their way into the country," he said, warning that if netted, such sugar would either be re-shipped to the country of origin or destroyed.
Kenya's sugar milling capacity of 500,000 metric tons falls short of the country's 700,000 tons annual demand, the deficit of which is plugged through imports.
Last year, KSB impounded over 3,000 metric tons of sugar that had been imported illegally. Some of the sugar was released after relevant duties were paid, but 40 containers of it still lying at the port is set for destruction, Mr Sirro, also in charge of investigations and compliance at KSB said.
He added that smuggling of the commodity was rampant in the northern frontiers through the porous Kenya/Somalia border adding that KSB has already set up an office at Garissa and posted officers there in a bid to increase surveillance to check cross border smuggling.
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