CS Munya Speaks on Banning Second Hand Cars

Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya on Thursday revealed that by 2021, the country will no longer permit the importation of any used vehicles above 1500cc.

Speaking on Citizen TV, the CS indicated that the plan will be kicked off under a proposal set to come to effect on June 30, 2019.

"By 2020, we will not have importation of vehicles above 1500cc older than 3 years. If you need such a vehicle, you will buy a new one," the CS noted.

CS Munya further indicated that Kenya will stop the importation of vehicles above 1500cc that are older than 5 years by end of June 2019.

"For vehicles below 1500cc, we can continue importing vehicles that are 8 years for now (until June 30)," he added.

The CS indicated that the proposal to stop importing cars that are more than 5 years old is meant to allow local assembly plants to thrive.

"This country cannot continue to import yet we want vehicle assembling plants to set up here," the CS stated.

Munya further indicated that the government was looking towards reducing power tariffs for industries and SMEs to spur trade.

He equally promised stick measures to ensure high standards of imports to support industrialization and manufacturing which is part of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big 4 Agenda.

"If you hear ‘noise’ about containers getting stuck at the port know it is those people who are contravening the law by insisting they want the inspection done here.

"If you are importing goods, they have to be inspected from where they are coming from and you get a certificate of inspection. If you do not have this certificate, we will force you to ship back those goods to where they are coming from," the CS cautioned.