NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 28 – The Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industrialization (MITI has moved quickly to address the recent tax concerns raised by investors, announcing a raft of measures to unlock the current stalemate.
In a meeting chaired by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at his Karen residence, MITI announced that going forward, no further tax increments will be made without consultation with the trade.
This comes as a huge reprieve for traders who have in the past accused the government of imposing taxes without having to give them a chance.
To give room for consultations, they will have monthly meetings at the DP office where key issues will be discussed.
At the same time, all containers at the port will be charged 2.5 million benchmarking fees.
To deal with the issue of counterfeits, the meeting agreed to streamline reshipment inspections and how they would be done.
The Anticounterfeit Authority (ACA) was also directed to work closely with the Kenya Bureau of Standards to enrich the Certificate of Conformity.
In what is also a huge relief for the traders, ACA was directed to release all seized goods within 2 weeks upon verification.
“ACA, KRA, and KEBS to convene sensitization seminars to highlight what’s counterfeit and how to verify,” a communique from the meeting partly reads.
The meeting also resolved that all police officers based at the port and other stations for more than 3 years should be transferred.
All ACA officers accused of harassing traders are to be transferred from Nairobi.
Kenya Revenue Authority will also negotiate with Shipping Lines and KPA on demurrage costs.
