The South Sudan Business Community in Mombasa has criticized the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) for failing to carry out President William Ruto’s port directive.

This is in response to the President’s directive last month to return port clearing services to the coastal city from the Nairobi Inland Container Depot (ICD).

The members, led by their chairperson Emmanuel Kachoul and secretary Thon Gai, claim that KPA has yet to make the necessary changes.

After being sworn in as Kenya’s fifth President on September 13, Ruto issued an executive order directing that all cargo clearance and attendant operations be relocated to the Port of Mombasa.

This was in keeping with the promise he made to the coastal residents during the campaign.

On September 26, KPA acting managing director John Mwangemi issued a notice rescinding the 2018 notice to operationalize the directive.

This meant that the president’s directive could be carried out.

The directive, according to the South Sudanese Business Community, gave importers the freedom to choose their preferred place of cargo clearance.

It also allows importers in Kenya and transit markets to choose the mode of transport that will be used to deliver their orders.

However, they stated that the directive has yet to be implemented for cargo destined for South Sudan.

“As key Mombasa Port stakeholders, we are shocked and dismayed that the presidential directive has not been fully implemented as ordered, especially concerning cargo destined for South Sudan,” they said in a statement.

According to the business community, a stakeholder meeting was held on September 30 to discuss issues related to the directive, but KPA management has since denied them an audience to address outstanding concerns.

All stakeholders spoke at the meeting and called for full implementation of the presidential directive, with no exceptions.

The community stated that a consultation meeting with KPA management had been scheduled but had been postponed several times.

“These are postponement tactics, and justice delayed is justice denied,” they claimed.

The South Sudanese Parliament had in July deliberated on a directive that required all cargo destined for the country be cleared in Nairobi, and by specific firms.

The lawmakers reached a verdict that moving volumes by the Standard Gauge Railwa(SGR), before being hauled by trucks to South Sudan was more expensive, resulting in rising commodity prices in the country. 

On June 15, Koul Athian Mawien, Minister of Trade and Industry in South Sudan, through the Embassy of South Sudan wrote to the Kenyan Foreign Affairs ministry, reversing the directive.

In the letter copied to Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia,  the South Sudan government requested that goods destined for the country instead be collected from the Port of Mombasa ,pending further consultations.

The members further said KPA continues with the forceful evacuation of South Sudan cargo (to Nairobi)  against the will of the South Sudan government and the business community.

South Sudan is second after Uganda on the use of the Port of  Mombasa , accounting for 9.9 per cent of total transit volumes. 

Uganda accounts for the lion share of 83.2 per cent while DR Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda account for 7.2 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

They also asked Ruto to form a task force to investigate and make recommendations on how to best manage and make the Port of Mombasa more affordable, efficient and competitive.