KAM CEOs Brief | 23 September 2016

KAM Meets Mombasa County Finance Team on Port Charges

KAM held a meeting with the Mombasa County Finance team on 13 September 2016 to discuss port charges and other charges in the Finance Bill that hinder trade in Mombasa County. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the legality of the county charging of the port charges.

Among the key highlights included:

• Introduction of a transport development levy of 50 dollars a container.
• Branding and advertising definition, to reduce confusion by the revenue collectors / inspectors.
• Complaints that members were being charged when on transit, and the county clearly stated that they do not charge offloading and transit fee for vehicles on transit.
• Public participation, to have a forum for KAM/private sector to present comments and views.

KAM also met with Mombasa County C.E for Trade and Investment, Hamisi Mwaguya on 14 September 2016. Among the deliberations include:

• The cost of doing business in the county – KAM urged the county to refrain from introducing levies that increase the cost of doing business like the Transport Development Levy. The C.E acknowledged that he had many complaints from business people on advertising/branding fee and for this reason they had come up with a task-force that KAM has been invited to sit in.
• KAM urged the County to put in place business incubators, incentives and SME friendly legislation for SMEs.

Single Customs Territory Seminar Held

Kenya Association of Manufacturers held a seminar on the Single Customs Territory (SCT) on 20 September, 2016 in Nairobi where findings of the DRC Market Survey were presented.

Single Custom Territory is the stage for full attainment of the customs union which is attainable by the removal of duties and other restrictive regulations and or minimisation of internal border customs controls on goods moving between partner states with an ultimate realisation of free circulation of goods.

The workshop aimed to present the market survey findings for Eastern DRC so as to identify any gaps; the role of KRA on the Single Custom Territory; Manufacturer’s requirements under SCT to ensure export is expedited and export certificate is obtained; The role of Shippers Council on trade facilitation at the port for EAC and DRC market access; Major investment opportunities in the DRC and the role of Kentrade on online Business Single Window System.