President William Ruto's economic advisor David Ndii has attributed the massive congestion of ships experienced at Dar es Salaam port to inefficiency amid criticism from Azimio la Umoja proponents over countries ditching the Mombasa Port.
Narok Senator Ledama Olekina had earlier shared a video where several ships were proceeding to dock in Dar es Salaam claiming it was at the expense of the Mombasa port.
The senator noted that the reason for the massive shift was owing to the strained neighbouring ties caused by the Kenya Kwanza regime.
"Mr William Ruto, have you seen the ship traffic in Dar Salaam? What is your advisor David Ndii telling you about it? This used to be Kenya when we had good leadership at the top! Remember that?" he posed.
However, Ndii was quick to respond, saying that the traffic was caused by inefficiency as the waiting time for Tanzania took up to 16 days as opposed to Mombasa port, which has the highest turn-around time with an average of one day.
"These are not cows. It is a traffic jam due to inefficiency, up to 16 days waiting time compared to Mombasa one day. Many ships are diverting to Mombasa," he stated.
The advisor also shared a letter from the Tanzanian government explaining the measures to reduce the turnaround time.
"Due to the current line-up (sic) of vessels at the outer anchorage waiting for berthing, we wish to inform you that bagging of cargo inside the port will be temporarily suspended to evacuate and reduce waiting time at outer anchorage," read part of the letter.
Further, Ndii detailed that the Dar es Salaam port recorded 16 days of waiting time, followed by Djibouti with five days and Mombasa recorded the lowest waiting time of one day.
The statement comes amid opposition politicians casting doubt on the ability of the Kenya Kwanza regime to maintain the relationship with its neighbours, signalling the Uganda oil row where the country stopped importing oil through the Mombasa port.
President William Ruto recently disputed the claims of the deteriorating relationship between the East African Community (EAC) countries.
"The relations between me and (Uganda's president) Museveni are perfect; the relationship between Kenya and Tanzania is perfect," Ruto stated during the roundtable discussion with journalists on December 17, 2023.
