The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has lost Ksh.600 million due to border row with Uganda since the start of the year.
KRA Customs and Border Control Deputy Commissioner at Busia says that trade between Kenya and Uganda has significantly reduced because of the imposed new regulations on COVID-19 tests and certificates by the neighboring countries.
“Monthly collections dropped to 600 million from 1 billion in Busia and Malaba border points and this is courtesy of the challenges we have been having about COVID,” said Kaguru.
The taxman is optimistic that normal operations at the border post will resume after the issues were resolved and more personnel deployed to clear the backlog.
Officials say traffic snarl-up saw the taxman lose out collections from mainly sugar and animal feeds that are mainly imported from Uganda.
In a recent multi-agency forum that brought together different actors from both Kenya and Uganda at the Malaba border, the East African Business Council pushed for the revival of business committees to facilitate the seamless flow of goods and services at border points.
EABC Chief Executive John Khalisa called for the formulation of robust systems that will guarantee fast clearance of trucks along the border towns of Kenya and Uganda.
It is at this forum that the KRA Regional Director Pamela Ahango confirmed deployment of more staff in the customs department to expedite clearance of trucks.
In attempts to address the stalemate between Kenya and Uganda, the East African Community Secretary General Dr. Peter Mathuki urged EAC member states to adopt a Covid-19 authentication pass dubbed ‘EACPass’ for the bloc’s citizens, meant to ease travel across the region’s internal borders.
