The Government of Kenya anticipates gaining billions in revenue from the recently implemented tax bill amendments on a wide array of consumer products, including aircraft. This means that helicopters that will be imported for campaign efforts in the 2022 general elections are subject to duty rates of up to 25%.
This was revealed in the newly sanctioned measures on import duty rates for externally-manufactured products entering the East African Community (EAC) region. This was after the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance, and Investment (SCIFI) met to discuss tariffs and local production. Consequently, tariff laws were published in the EAC Gazette Notice dated June 30 2020.
The new tariffs were put in place to set in motion processes of local industrialization, encouraging local investments and promoting local production. The laws have been in effect since July 1 2020.
Importers of choppers and planes will have to part with more cash. This is due to the higher duty of 25 per cent that has been in place for one year now. The percentage increase supersedes an initial common external tariff (CET) of zero per cent, with the National Treasury expecting to earn sizable revenue from the aircraft.
In addition to aircraft, Kenya is tailing imported sports and leather footwear, gas cylinders, suitcases, new clothes, and all soaps in the same respect. This move is focused on cushioning the country’s local manufacturing industries.
However, it might bring harm to small-scale traders and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and make the items unaffordable for the majority of citizens.
The impending campaign season will see an increasing number of helicopters freighted into the country. Political hopefuls in their helicopters will traverse the Kenyan airspace quests for votes as well as forging political partnerships.
The use of helicopters for daily travel ensures that traffic snarl-ups are confined to common persons, the greater majority. They restore parity to the affluent and powerful around the world including Kenya. In this process, they enable their manufacturers to reap big time.
Chopper prices range between Ksh 200 million to over Ksh 1.5 billion for a single unit. A popular helicopter brand in Kenya is the French-built AS Aerospatiale 350B3e Eurocopter. This machine easily surpasses the Ksh 200M purchase price mark. It is flown into the country in parts upon purchase confirmation. The cost then soars to Ksh 350 million as it has to be assembled locally.
Helicopters gobble up to Ksh 30,000 worth of aviation gasoline per hour. It then follows that parking fees at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport set owners back what would then be a meagre Ksh10,000 every 24 hours. Landing fees at the facility cost about Ksh1,000.
Kenya's aviation industry is reportedly experiencing consistent growth. Kenya's Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is currently moving to increase the runway distance of Malindi Airport by a length of 1,000 meters
