Kenyan transporters are protesting a recent deal between the government and South Sudan, which they claim is killing business.
Transporters Association (KTA) has written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), World Health Organization (WHO), World Food Programme (WFP), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organizations over the agreement.
In the statement, dated June 27, 2022, KTA stated that officials in Nairobi and JUba instructed that all South Sudan transit cargo must be exclusively ferried by specific private companies.
According to KTA, the two governments have directed that all South Sudan cargo in transit must be railed via the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Mombasa to a private facility in Nairobi and 6 private agents given exclusive rights to handle subsequent evacuation to South Sudan.
"By doing this, they are denying the business community and other agencies the right to determine where and who should handle their goods in addition to excluding competition which is vital in the fight against corruption.
"They have abrogated these rights to themselves by assuming these owners of cargo need to be guided and forced on how to conduct their own businesses," the statement by KTA read in part.
The transporters accuse the two governments of not consulting with the cargo owners or agencies.
KTA requested the international community to intervene and decline to support the systems that have been set up and to maintain the good governance practices that they are associated with.
The association clarified that they are not against the use of railway if it is the better option and therefore they further argued that there is no need to create a monopoly.
"Road transporters are in support of the freedom to choose which is at the core of good governance standards as expounded by these organisations all over the world."
This comes in the background of reports published by the Daily Nation which alleged that the family of Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho won a lucrative tender to handle all South Sudan imports at its Nairobi Freight Terminal (NFT).
The publication stated that six clearing agents were appointed to handle goods destined for South Sudan at Nairobi Inland Container Depot.
Reports also indicated that all imports will be directly loaded and transported on the SGR upon offloading in Mombasa.
Notably, the company won the tender competitively, owing to its location next to the Nairobi Inland Container Depot, which is connected to the SGR.
