Over 7,000 cars stuck in Mombasa over number plate hitch
Second-hand motor vehicles at Eyre Motors yard in Mombasa County on July 5, 2021. The County has seen a rise of car yards and bazaars .
Car importers say they are incurring huge losses as a result of delays in releasing more than 7,000 vehicles from port facilities because of a lack of number plates.
Most vehicles imported since early July have not been released by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) because National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has not issued number plates for them.
Kenya International Freight Warehousing Association chairperson Roy Mwanthi said they are incurring huge losses though they have paid all port charges.
“There is congestion in different car depots in Mombasa despite clearing with KRA but the vehicles cannot be released without number plates. This has resulted in increasing costs to importers as they are incurring demurrages every day,” he said.
“A number of importers are stranded and with more vehicles being imported at the moment, this will result in huge losses for dealers and individual importers.”
Car Importers Association of Kenya (CIAK) chairman Peter Otieno said apart from inadequate plates, there was a system failure where TSA clearances are not showing in the KRA system.
“The problem started about a month ago and with more vehicles being imported this time, we have serious issues. We also have issues where a car is cleared by NTSA but that is not reflecting in the KRA system,” he said.
Importers also have to wait a week to get stickers, he said.
In an August 6 letter seen by the Saturday Nation from NTSA Director-General George Njao to KRA Commissioner-General Githii Mburu, the former acknowledges the number plate shortage, blaming the problem on the supplier.
“NTSA is currently experiencing delays in production and supply of number plates and logbooks from our suppliers, the State Department of Correctional Services (SDCS) and the Government Printer respectively,” the letter says.
“As at the date of this letter, the authority is allocating number plates series KDD-P against the last series supplied KDD-L thus translating to a deficit of 3,000 number plates pending supply.”
NTSA now has asked KRA to release all registered vehicles to reduce congestion and costs to importers.
“As a stop gap measure we kindly request you to authorise the release of vehicles which have been duly registered and the e-sticker affixed on their windshield, pending issuance of the physical number plates and the logbooks. In the meantime, we are working closely with our suppliers to address the challenges,” NTSA says.
