KPA told to implement new directive on ports
Stakeholders in the transport and logistics sector in Mombasa now want Kenya Port Authorities (KPA) to immediately implement President William Ruto’s directive to revert the Port operations to Mombasa so as to restore “lost livelihoods”.
The stakeholders led by Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (KIFWA) chairman Roy Manthi and his Mombasa branch counterpart Leonard Njiru said by yesterday the impact of the President’s directive was yet to be felt because the concerned agencies including KPA were yet to react.
Mwanthi said they are expecting the agencies involved, that is the KPA, to immediately implement it.
Mode of transport
“This is a presidential directive and it should be implemented forthwith by way of KPA giving a public notice to all port users that they are at liberty to use their preferred mode of transport and they are at liberty to nominate their cargo to their preferred custom appointed areas,”he said in an interview with Business Hub in Mombasa. But yesterday, KPA head of Cooperative Affairs Bernard Osero said the necessary teams are consulting with intentions to implement the directive. “I know different teams are consulting to see which areas to be affected and the general implications of that directive. It’s a straightforward thing. Being a presidential directive, it’s urgent and we expect to be implemented as soon as possible. Immediately it becomes clear, a concrete communication will be made,” he told Business Hub in a telephone interview.
Once the directive is implemented, he said, it will revive economic activities of People of Mombasa and other related towns which had been battered by previous government directive requiring cargo clearance to be carried out in Nairobi.
According to the chairman, over 40,000 people working in the clearing and warehousing sectors alone lost their jobs within the past three to four years during which the directive to clear goods in Nairobi was in place.
