Clearing agents blame fall in revenue on ‘unstable’ KRA e-system

Clearing and forwarding agents, who manage cargo imports for clients in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and northern Tanzania are a worried lot: They say they are incurring losses because of persistent hitches from the Integrated Customs Management Systems (iCMS).

The $8.45 million iCMS system was procured by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) in 2017 to replace the old Simba system, but it has failed to meet client’s expectations resulting in a loss of revenue.

The clearing agents claim that most traders are opting to process importation documents from their respective countries, which have more efficient Customs management systems. They also claim that the iCMS system is not compatible with a number of systems resulting in delays and errors while lodging import and export documents.

“Most of our clients in neighbouring countries are complaining over delays in delivering cargo due to system problems. If this is not resolved soon, we might lose more business in future,” said Cyrus Kamau, a clearing agent.

The iCMS is a single window system that involves filing export and import documents into a common portal in a bid to make the process of clearing goods faster and more transparent.

In the new system, submission of sea manifests for both imports and exports in iCMS through the system-to-system data exchange is a requirement, 48 hours before a vessel arrives or departs.

KRA has since admitted the recent system error, citing a system upgrade by the provider.

“It was a logical error beyond our control since the service provider, KIXP management, upgraded their system/configurations thus affecting its use,” reads part of the notification to traders from KRA.

Among the most affected are car importers who are being forced to file their documents in Nairobi for manual feed into the system before the vehicles can be cleared since the system is not compatible with Kenya’s transport integrated management system (TIMS).

All government services offered by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) such as motor vehicle registration, vehicle inspection booking, transfer of vehicle ownership, vehicle record search, applications for a smart driving license have been migrated to TIMS.

“Car importers have not been able to feed their entries for more than 10 days since February 10 and the NTSA officials in Mombasa are being forced to take the entries manually to Nairobi to be cleared, which is causing a backlog,” said Roy Mwanthi, the chairman of the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association.

Customs automation and migration to more advanced systems has been implemented in all East African Community partner states with Kenya’s iCMS reportedly having persistent errors during transaction compared with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi who use the ASYCUDA world system.

The Tanzania Customs Integrated System (Tancis) which was launched in 2017, the same year with Kenya’s iCMS system, has significantly improved Customs administration leading to a significant reduction in the cost of doing business.

Apart from system hitches, user know-how has also contributed to the delays experienced in the new system.