KRA officials placed under police chief in border control plan

Hundreds of Customs officials with security training have been redeployed to border entry points in a major security shake-up that has seen the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) incorporated into the National Security Advisory Committee.

The border control officers (BCO) will now be under the control of Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo following a presidential order that brought all security agencies under a single command.

Some 250 officers who recently graduated from Embakasi Administration Police College in Nairobi will now join 315 others who have been redeployed from revenue collection to various border outposts. This brings to 565, the number of border control officers under Mr Kimaiyo.

The latter batch, which graduated in 2005, had been working as revenue collectors and will now be in charge of border security and integrity.

Of late, Kenya has been facing security threats from the Somalia militant group, Al-Shabaab which has been blamed for recent attacks on civilians and security personnel. There has also been concern about the incessant trafficking of small arms, drugs and contraband sugar worth millions of shillings.

The officers who have already reported to their new stations are university graduates and were taken through a grueling seven-week course at Embakasi to prepare them for new roles that have also seen KRA commissioner-general John Njiraini become a member of the National Security Advisory Committee chaired by Joseph Kinyua, the Head of Public Service. The committee prepares briefs for President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The new BCOs, also trained on customs management, have been issued with green uniforms to distinguish them from their counterparts from the Immigration Department and the Kenya Police Service. Previously, they wore white shirts and blouses.

The border control officers will sit on security committees in their respective station areas and share intelligence with their national office, senior security sources said.

The KRA confirmed it had effected changes on the border control and surveillance unit, saying the move would help boost its mandate of regulating cargo entering or leaving the country.

“It is a normal exercise aimed at enhancing our role of managing the country’s border stations. We are boosting the presence of our officers at the border points,” Maureen Njongo, the KRA spokesperson, told Business Daily when reached for comment.

The new changes came as the KRA announced that all passengers transiting through the country’s borders by road will now have all their personal belongings checked by its officers to enhance security and curb tax evasion.

The mandatory inspection will cover items carried in passenger buses, trucks, private motor vehicles and motorcycles.

A notice by the agency said: “Considering the need for enhanced security, KRA will with effect from August 15, 2014 require all passengers travelling using the above means to presents their personal effects/belongings upon arrival at the entry or exit points to facilitate clearance through customs.”

The KRA said the task would be carried out within the provisions of the EAC Customs Management Act, which requires that all persons declare their belonging at the points of entry and exit to ensure conformity with the rules on safety and tax payment.

Porous borders have been blamed for rising insecurity within the region while traders have had to contend with unfair competition from goods smuggled into the market.

“The challenges facing us are known and KRA is preparing to play its role even better,” Ms Njongo said.

Kenya and other EAC partners, especially Tanzania and Uganda, are presently battling threats of suspected militant groups believed to smuggle small arms across borders in the region.

In addition to increasing the numbers, the officers have been provided with scanners to scrutinise explosives, gun powder and drugs.

The team has also deployed sniffer dogs at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Moi International Airport in Mombasa and drugs test kits to expose disguised cargo.

Although Kenya has borne the brunt of the militant attacks, Tanzania and Uganda have also recently witnessed attacks by suspected terror linked groups. It is understood the changes are modelled on US border control system changes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Besides the terror threats, EAC countries are facing growing smuggling of goods such as sugar and cigarettes, which has exposed domestic firms to unfair competition.

Recent intelligence reports have identified the contraband route from the Somalia port of Kismayu to Garissa in northern Kenya as one of the most notorious for smuggling. The route is believed to handle sugar and electronics, hard drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as explosives and weapons.

Kenya has since 2011 intensified checks on vehicles crossing the borders due to worries about explosives destined for Al-Shabaab members based in the country.

Only last month, sugar millers raised the red flag following a massive pile-up of stocks in the warehouses — a trend they blamed on cheaper sugar smuggled into the country through Somalia.

READ: Future of Kenya's sugar industry put in further doubt

The port of Mombasa has also gained notoriety for smuggling of hard drugs and ivory poached from regional parks and destined for the Asian market, mainly China.

Last week, nine foreigners were charged in a Mombasa court with trafficking the biggest-ever drug haul seized at the port of Mombasa.

This came in wake of a recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime which said there has been a surge in the volume of heroin trafficked through East Africa in recent years with the port of Mombasa cited as a transit point for narcotics and other contraband.

The suspects, who included six Pakistanis, two Indians and an Iranian, denied trafficking the heroin and were detained until November when their trial will begin over the seizure of the 377.2 kg drug haul, estimated to have a market value of Sh1.1 billion.

Police also found 33,200 litres of liquid heroin, whose value is yet to be established, in the vessel used by the suspects.

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