The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is holding 818 consignments of condemned cargo marked for destruction, including motor vehicles and sugar. The taxman said the consignments seized by various regulatory agencies include 80 motor vehicles and 48 containers of sugar.
“A total of 818 consignments are held by KRA at the various customs stations as condemned goods for destruction. The consignments include motor vehicles, containerised cargo and loose cargo loads at the port of Mombasa, container freight stations, and border stations” the KRA said in a submission to the National Assembly’s Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Committee.
It says the condemned sugar consignment was imported from Swaziland by eight companies including M/S Spicy Ventures, Wakalisa Holders, Krishna Allied Industries Pvt, and Sharaf Shipping Agencies. Others are Messina Limited, Wilyan traders, Igaal trading, and Mediterranean Shipping Company.
"The sugar consignment is unfit for human consumption and has been condemned for destruction," said the taxman in its submission to MPs.
“The consignment belonging to M/S Igaal Trading Ltd is subject to a court process in Kenya” it added.
The KRA said a consignment of brown sugar in 20 containers imported by M/S Spicy Ventures Limited in September 2018 failed quality tests.
“The sugar was tested by Kebs (Kenya Bureau of Standards) against the East African Standards Specifications for brown sugar, and failed to comply in moisture and failed to comply in moisture content and polarisation,” the KRA said.
“The subject consignment is currently lying at the Focus CFS pending destruction, or re-shipment back to origin,” it added.
Kenya relies on sugar shipments from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) to bridge a deficit in local production.
The Comesa Council of Ministers last week gave Kenya the seventh extension against an allowable limit of five years under the bloc’s trade rule.
