Kenya is looking for executives to spearhead the rolling out of the online cargo clearance system, which was meant to end the cumbersome clearing processes at the Mombasa port and at the country’s border points.

(Read: Kenya on the spot over port delays)
The Kenya Trade Network Agency (Kentrade), which was created to oversee the implementation of the National Single Window (NSW), is in the process of recruiting officers to serve in trade facilitation, finance, audit, procurement, communication as well as other junior officers. The jobs were advertised in Kenyan dailies on Wednesday.

Alex Kabuga , the chief executive at Kentrade said the system will be rolled out next month, and will provide businesses with an electronic platform for the submission, receipt and processing of trade related documents. It will also enable the exchange and automated processing of trade and cargo clearance information and payment of duties and taxes on imported and exported goods.

Controversy

The procurement of the software for the system has been riddled with controversy, with Kentrade apparently focusing on acquiring the software through a single source from a private company in Singapore, while the World Bank was insisting on an open and competitive tendering process.

In June, the World Bank, which had earmarked $3.2 million for the $6 million project while the Kenyan government was to finance the balance, had threatened to withdraw from the project, citing procurement flaws.

The project saw the involvement of the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA), the public tendering watchdog, which in a letter to Mr Kabuga in August demanded an explanation on how the procurement was carried out. Mr Kabuga told The EastAfrican that the issues had been resolved with PPOA. However, attempts to confirm this with PPOA were fruitless.

Mr Kabuga said the project will be implemented in two main phases over an 18-month period with phase one planned to begin in December and to go live in June 2013; phase two will follow and will go live in December 2013. The project will cover the Mombasa, Lamu sea ports, airports, land ports and land border posts.

It is estimated that the Single Window System will save the country between $150 million and $250 million per annum in the first three years, and thereafter between $300 million and $450 million per annum.

Mr Kabuga said the harmonisation of data across government departments will lead to improved efficiency, transparency and effectiveness of official controls.

“This in effect means that all cargo manifests for sea, land, and air will be submitted to the single window system, which will then disseminate them electronically to the relevant government agencies for processing and approval,” said Mr Kabuga.

Cargo clearing times

The country aims to cut cargo clearance times at the port of Mombasa to a maximum of three days from the current 7-14 days, and at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to one day. For goods being moved by road, cargo clearance times should drop to just one hour from the current two days.

The overall aim is to eliminate the cargo clearance inefficiency at the port of Mombasa that has seen other East African countries opt to import goods through the port of Dar es Salaam.

The port of Mombasa handles about 20 million tonnes of cargo every year.

According to the Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Gichiri Ndua, Kenya’ port of Mombasa registered container port traffic of 771,000 TEUS in 2011 up from 695,000 TEUs handled in 2010 registering a growth of 10.8 per cent.

“However labour costs, expensive and unreliable energy, and delays at the port of Mombasa have constrained the growth of the port,” said Mr Gichiri.

Due to inefficiency and long clearance time at the port, it takes longer time to clear the cargo of between 7-14 days, compared to a maximum of nine in Dar es Salaam.

Recent data from the Kenya Ports Authority shows that Mombasa handles 20 per cent less cargo of 552,000 tonnes destined for northern Tanzania and the inland countries of Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the DR Congo.

The port of Dar es Salaam has become the main competitor of the Kenyan port with an increased market share in East Africa, handling 16 per cent more containerised cargo last year due to road improvement.