Last month, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) reported that it had raised over 1 trillion shillings in the first seven months of the 2021/2022 Financial year.
The results showed that KRA is continuing with its impressive post-COVID recovery strategy as it remains on course towards surpassing its revenue target for the Financial year with five months to go.
This is 28.8 per cent above the revenue collected by KRA within the same 7-month period in the last financial year.
The January revenue alone increased by 28.3 per cent from 142.8 billion shillings compared to 111.3 billion shillings in the same period last financial year.
This is an indication that this year’s revenue could increase at a higher rate in a very long time.
One of the areas of its operations credited with the improved revenue collection is the use of enhanced technology in Customs operations, especially cargo scanning.
This has strengthened multi-agency collaborations to deter smuggling at the border points leading not only to improved revenue collection but also tighter border security.
KRA, working alongside other border agencies including the Immigration Department, Port Health Services, Border Police Patrol Unit, Kenya Bureau of Standards and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, now boast of better inter-agency collaborations.
They also enjoy seamless operations, faster clearance of both cargo and persons crossing the borders, increased border security and efficient trade facilitation.
X-ray baggage scanners worth hundreds of millions were recently deployed at the border stations.
This was in addition to patrol boats, vehicles and field test kits adding to the already existing sophisticated scanning machines, all connected to the central scanning command centre located at Times Tower in Nairobi.
This is an exciting milestone for the Government of Kenya in terms of seamless multi-agency collaborations at the border points and as a measure to deter graft and economic crimes, which are at the heart of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s pursuit for a graft free nation.
To put matters into perspective, KRA closed on 198 cases of sugar smuggling through border points between 2018 and 2021 alone with a value in excess of 235 Million shillings and would have an even higher impact on taxation.
Smuggling translates to corruption, and it affects the economy in serious ways.
If smuggling of sugar alone within the period cost millions in taxes, how about ethanol, motor vehicles and their spare parts, drugs, and other products that are smuggled into the country?
All these cost the Government money in taxes and more often pose unfair competition on those who do genuine businesses and create employment opportunities for thousands of Kenyans, especially in the small and medium enterprises.
It, therefore, makes sense that graft and other economic crimes are dealt with through a multi-faceted approach such as collaborations through a multi-agency task force.
To this end, the integrated scanners are considered as a key cog in the system that makes work better for the border control agencies hence the positive results that have been recorded.
And with Kenya having thirty-five gazetted points of entry which are now fully under surveillance through heightened security and scanner management connected to an integrated central command system, we can only improve moving forward.
These scanners detect dangerous or contraband items that are concealed by importers; they also deter illegal movement of people, while promoting lawful trade and travel.
Further, the scanners monitor and detect chemicals and other components used in manufacturing explosives.
Previously, border points were less sophisticated, with manual systems and staff who were exhausted following systems all day long.
The manual processes gave room for corruption in various ways.
For instance, at Taveta border point, 30 trucks queued and were handled manually on a daily basis.
In the process, there was damage of property for traders, prolonged hours of clearance up to three days thereby creating loopholes for smuggling of goods.
The Multi-agency team still handled cargo together, but clearance of goods took many days.
Currently, cargo trucks are scanned and passed over to the other authorities in a matter of minutes.
The KRA Customs processes are much better leading to enhanced trade facilitation.
It took over three days to get an import declaration form previously, but with the scanners and the Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS), this process is concluded in 5 minutes, automatically.
The Ease of Doing Business Report 2021 mentioned that the harmonization process across Kenya’s border points is way better, compared to Sub Sahara Africa’s combined.
According to the report, Kenya takes at most 16 hours to comply with export procedures compared to other Sub Sahara African countries which take on average 97.1 hours and the OECD countries which take 12.7 hours.
Besides enhancing technology across borders, the Government has also invested in staff training through the multi-agency framework to increase synergy and equip them with knowledge on common border threats such as illegal trade, public health threats, cyber threats, narcotic substances, human trafficking, and terrorism among other threats.
So far, the multi-agency border teams are optimizing resources, collaborating and sharing information more often and investing in the upgrade of existing infrastructure, technology and personnel.
The Government through President Uhuru Kenyatta also calls on citizens to be on the watch and to alert security of any threats at the border points.
Border protection is a collective initiative that increases legitimate trade, a safer country and increased revenue which supports the economy, cutting down external borrowing.
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