Kenya customs wants to take over Uganda customs

TRADE

The Customs and Border Control Kenya Revenue Authority has asked to take control of the customs Uganda Revenue Authority.

The Commissioner, Customs and Border Control Kenya Revenue Authority Kevin Safari asked to take over the position of Dicksons Kateshumbwa commissioner of customs Uganda Revenue Authority following his election to the position of Chairperson of the World Customs Organization (WCO).

"Our brother is going to be busy with his new position, we can take over his position in Uganda in a brotherly way", Safari said. Safari said he had attended the installation ceremony of Kateshumbwa in Kampala where they agreed to increase trade relations between the two countries.

He said they want to bring in Kenya customs officials to work with their counterparts in Kampala so that goods and services are cleared fast. "While in Kampala I identified working space in Nakawa. We will also have a team from KRA based in Jinja. We want to work in harmony and speed up exports and imports in the region," Safari said.  Uganda has become Kenya's biggest trading partner taking over the position from United Kingdom.

A team from URA is already stationed at the Port of Mombasa to ensure fast clearance of goods and services and resolve any administrative challenges relating to tax policy and administration.

Safari said they are reducing the number of agencies that clear goods at the Port of Mombasa to reduce delays in clearing. He said they have reduced the number of agencies from 28 to four.

He said only the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways and Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) will clear goods at customs. Safari said this during the Third Trade and Business Facilitation Symposium at Mombasa. The three-day event was organized by the Uganda Consulate in Mombasa and Trade Mark East Africa.

Kateshumbwa has been elected chairperson of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council in Brussels. Kateshumbwa served as the WCO East and South African region Vice Chairman before the election.

The Uganda Revenue Authority customs took over from Uruguay's Enrique Canon.  Directors General of the 183 WCO Member Customs administrations met as the WCO Council, the Organization's supreme decision-making body, in Brussels, Belgium from 27 to 29 June 2019.

Uganda raised its profile in the customs world last year when it hosted Africa's first World Customs Organization (WCO) Global Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Conference in Kampala. This is the first time an African country is chairing the Council, in the 67 years of its existence.

Kateshumbwa said he will be chairing the WCO Policy Commission twice a year and the WCO meeting, which is like the annual general meeting.

He said his task is to implement the WCO strategic plan 2019-2022, which includes goals like trade facilitation, capacity building, managing supply chains and gender trade.

He said he wants to enforce a harmonised system that classifies all products globally. Kateshumbwa said the current one is complicated, needs review for traders to understand.

He said he intends to promote trade, trade facilitation and women in trade. He added that he also wants to use this position to increase intra-Africa trade and increase capacity building for developing countries.

  "The level of intra-Africa trade is below 15 percent. Compare that with Asia's which is over 60 percent. This is because we have dysfunctional connectivity. Colonial borders create barriers to trade. We can't trade among ourselves as a continent. To go to West Africa you first have to go to Europe," he said.

Safari was early this year appointed commissioner and tasked with stemming trafficking in illicit goods and harmful products through Kenya's border points. Kenya's economy is estimated to be losing large amounts of revenue every year through the entry of counterfeit, contraband and smuggled goods as well as undervaluation of imports at the Mombasa port, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and other air and seaports.