The Kenya Revenue Authority has proposed amendments to some laws to help it fight smuggling through the port of Mombasa.

The authority cited failure to police Kenya’s borders, which have become increasingly porous, as enabling the entry of illegal goods, including wildlife trophies.

The Parliamentary committee of Environment and Natural Resources visited the port on Thursday to establish why it has become a transit point for illegal goods.

The deputy commissioner of Customs, Nicholas Kinoti, said there is a need to amend the laws that have allowed illegal trade to flourish. “For instance, an export manifest is valid for 30 days and we are asking parliament to amend the law and reduce it to 14 days. This will ensure that cargo does not stay for too long at the port before it is exported,” he said.

On April 20, four tonnes of ivory was seized at Bangkok’s main port in a container shipped from Mombasa port, but originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo, destined for Laos. And on April 25, 511 pieces of ivory, weighing over three tonnes and worth $6 million, were found in Bangkok, Thailand, in a container marked as “tea leaves” transported from Mombasa and also destined for Laos.

The East African Tea Trade Association had entered into an agreement with KRA in which tea containers were not subjected to scanning due to the high volumes exported daily. Instead, they were loaded under the supervision of Customs officers, a loophole that ivory traders are said to have exploited.

Currently, all containers are being scanned, a situation that has resulted in a backlog of export tea at the port due to lack of scanning machines.

“The measures taken to facilitate trade have created loopholes that these people are now exploiting. We need to scrutinise all cargo but this is not possible with only one scanner working and capacity constraints in terms of workforce,” Kenneth Ochola, the KRA officer in charge of operations, told the committee.

A Kenya Wildlife Service officer who spoke to The EastAfrican on condition of anonymity said the ivory being shipped through Mombasa port was coming from other countries.

“This ivory is definitely from neighbouring countries since the elephants we have lost to poachers in Kenya over the past two years are fewer than the amount of ivory being shipped,” said the officer.

Source: The East African

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