Burundi on its part complained of the cargo charges for transit trucks in both Kenya and Tanzania. The Mombasa County Government in Kenya charges Ksh6,000 ($60) per transit cargo truck and $5 for transit trucks waiting to load cargo in the parking yard every day, while Tanzania charges $4.37 for every cargo truck entering the country through Mugina/ Manyovu border.

However, Tanzania reported that the Kenya Revenue Authority takes up to seven days for physical inspection and approval of entries for Tanzania Breweries Ltd (TBL) consignments at the border and the Kenya Bureau of Standards conducts double checks on products approved by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards and TFDA.

“There are multiple quality checks for export products in Kenya that in some cases can mean up to 21 days delay,” said the report, adding that Kenya invoked the EAC rules of origin and imposes duties on TBL products by insisting Redds and Castle Lite beer are manufactured in South Africa while they are manufactured in Tanzania.

“Pursuant to the Kenya Excise Act 2015, the KRA introduced tax stamps or printed codes on beer and keg manufactured or imported with manual application, which raises the cost to $5.5 per half litre and also introduced conditions for excise remission that hinder TBL beer exports to Kenya.”

The other NTBs reported in the report are that Rwanda, charges am arbitrary fee of between $21 and $24 to transporters and importers transporting goods to Rwanda from Uganda. The fee is institutionalised and no receipt is issued. Uganda reported that its transporters are complaining of being stopped by the Kenyan police after passing weighbridges. The police then demand weighbridge certificates and extort up to $100 at a time.

The EAC Sectoral Council directed the Secretariat to convene permanent/principal secretaries from all the partner states to handle the reported issues on NTBs.

Jessica Eriyo, EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of the productive and Social Sector, said the NTBs Act should be assented to for a structural and institutional framework to address NTBs.

The EAC NTBs 2015 Act aims to establish a legal mechanism for identifying and monitoring the removal of NTBs.

Source: All Africa