Clearing and forwarding agents in Mombasa have accused the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) of introducing unnecessary requirements for vehicle importation, which they say increase costs and cause severe delays.
The agents want the Export Declaration requirement scrapped, arguing that every vehicle comes with an export certificate, which they say should be sufficient.
The Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (Kifwa) said on Monday that the additional Export Declaration document was unnecessary, increased red tape, wasted time and raised the cost of doing business.
KRA Commissioner for Customs and Border Control Lilian Nyawanda acknowledged the concerns raised by Kifwa and the clearing agents but maintained that the new requirement was anchored in law under Section 23B of the Tax Procedures Act.
“As a statutory institution, KRA is mandated to implement and administer legislation enacted by Parliament, while at the same time facilitating legitimate trade and business operations,” Nyawanda, who is also the acting commissioner general, said in a statement dated Monday.
She said the authority was working closely with affected stakeholders to ensure the implementation of statutory requirements promoted compliance while minimising unnecessary disruption to legitimate business activities.
“When it comes to motor vehicles, we have a document called an Export Certificate, which serves as the Export Declaration. So, why is KRA complicating things when it comes to documentation?” Ummulkheir Said, a clearing agent and Kifwa director, posed.
He said no vehicles had been released from the Mombasa port or Container Freight Stations (CFSs) since the previous week because of the new requirement.
On August 3, KRA launched the new Export Declaration document, which was officially implemented on September 1.
Said explained that most of the cargo agents were currently clearing had arrived or been shipped before August 3.
“We request them immediately to allow us to remove our cargo that was shipped before August 3,” he said.
An export declaration form is an official legal document that an exporter submits to customs authorities before sending goods to another country, proving that a shipment complies with local and international trade laws and export controls.
Governments use the details to record national trade statistics and monitor border movements.
An export certificate, meanwhile, is an official document issued by a government authority or an authorised organisation, such as a chamber of commerce, to prove that goods meet specific regulatory, safety, quality or origin requirements for international trade.
The clearing agents also complained that the valuation rulings being issued were excessively high, forcing importers to pay what they termed unreasonable amounts of duty.
“These rulings must be transparent, published and fairly applied,” they said.
“With regard to motor vehicle valuation, KRA notes the matter is currently before the court. The authority will therefore refrain from commenting on the specific merits of the valuation methodology in accordance with the principle of sub judice, pending the direction and determination of the court,” Nyawanda said.
Peter Wambua, also a Kifwa director, said policies introduced by the revenue authority should be consistent with practical work on the ground.
“When they tell us today to do this and we do it, and then come again tomorrow and tell us to do another thing, it becomes very hard for us to facilitate trade on their behalf,” Wambua said.
“KRA is supposed to facilitate trade, and agents, as part of KRA, assist in trade facilitation. If we go against each other, it means the collection of tax revenue in the country will go down.”
He said clearing agents and KRA were supposed to support each other to help the authority meet or surpass its revenue targets.
“Like they did last month, it is because of the collaboration between us and them. We listen to them and they should also listen to us so we move forward together,” Wambua said.
He warned that the more stakeholders became antagonistic, the greater the delays at the port, leading to higher demurrage charges that were eventually passed on to struggling clients.
The clearing agents said the longer the impasse persisted, the more cargo accumulated at the port, leading to severe congestion that would ultimately undermine the effectiveness and efficiency of the facility.
“If you count the accumulation of about 5,000 units a day, then multiply it by the number of days—which is for the last one week—that is a huge number of vehicles accumulating at the port, the CFSs, and the ICDs,” Wambua said.
Kevin Oluoch, another Kifwa director, said that if a unit attracted about $50 (Sh6,471) in demurrage per day, multiplying that by 5,000 units daily over two weeks resulted in a massive cost eventually passed on to clients.
The clearing agents said they had heard on Monday morning that KRA had suspended the new requirements, but added that no official written communication had been issued to confirm the move.
Oluoch said the matter had been anchored in law, meaning elected leaders had passed it, and expressed concern that they may not have understood its full operational impact.
“It is important to know the kind of leaders we elect into that House. These things were passed in the Finance Act, 2026,” Oluoch said.
“I know most of the leaders in Parliament do not even understand what they passed. That is why we are here.” He said laws should facilitate trade rather than hamper it.
“We have our advocacy body, Kifwa, but they are sleeping. They go to these meetings and drink tea. We have been suffering for a week until we started agitating on Friday—that is when they called a parallel meeting to suppress this,” Oluoch said.
“We are not fighting KRA and we thank them for accepting to release our cars. But we remain suspicious. It is not the first time we are getting such communication while things remain different on the ground.”
Oluoch insisted that agents would only believe the directive had been lifted once they received formal written communication.
She said that through ongoing consultation and dialogue, KRA would continue to explore practical and lawful solutions to operational challenges affecting cargo clearance and trade.
