The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is set to shut down the integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) for scheduled system maintenance.
In a statement released by KRA, the iCMS system will have the scheduled maintenance from Saturday, January 11 at 10pm running till Sunday, January 12 at 6am.
The tax collector apologised for the impending inconvenience, as the iCMS is the system solely responsible for the lodging of documents for the importation and exportation of goods at various ports across the country.
The iCMS system was first introduced during the second term of former President Uhuru Kenyatta with the premise of being a modern, robust, and efficient platform running on the latest technology to achieve faster and seamless cargo clearance.
The system was predicted to bring in greater trade efficiency by increasing speed in the cargo clearance process, reducing complexities associated with several systems of automation of manual processes and reengineering processes.
The system was to be implemented in phases with a great focus on improving Kenya’s ease of doing business by simplifying processes that enable pre-arrival processing.
Further, the system would assist in entrenching a process that would have allowed Authorised Economic Operators (AEOs) to enjoy greater preferential treatment that previously could not be accorded to them due to the limitations of the previous SIMBA system.
Upon full implementation, the iCMS would counter security threats through a robust risk management system that ensures a secure trade chain, facilitates regional integration by integrating with regional revenue administrations, and provides for transparency of the cargo as the system eliminates human intervention.
Despite all the glitter that surrounded the new system, all has not been rosy, with the system experiencing multiple outages that have massively affected the flow and supply of goods both within and outside the country.
As recently as November 2024, the system encountered an outage at the Port of Mombasa that resulted in significant economic losses for Kenya.
The outages, which lasted for five days, destabilised operations at the port after it led to tea consignments worth more than Ksh3.25 billion meant for export stuck at the different port facilities.
The system downtime affected activities at the Mombasa Tea Auction after the consignments missed scheduled shipments, with traders in other sectors also counting their losses.
The relevant stakeholders, while lamenting about the system’s woes, pressured KRA to come up with an alternative cargo management system that would act as a fallback plan in the event iCMS went down.
