Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) yesterday faulted Mombasa County government for levying cess on goods entering the devoled unit. 

The lobby termed the move a violation of Supreme Court Judgment of July 16, 2021.

A case at the Supreme Court where Base Titanium Limited successfully stopped Mombasa County from charging Sh3,000 levy for its vehicles accessing the main port through a road constructed and managed by the State.

The move comes after Mombasa governor Hassan Joho made a declaration in Meru that miraa transporters will not be charged cess.

Mombasa County Draft finance Bill 2020-2021 charges a sack of miraa Sh1,000 payable at Bonje area for all goods offloaded within the county.

A similar charge of Sh1,000 is also paid for every carton of Mugoka.

“Joho used his executive power to isolate and specifically waive cess charges only for Miraa transporters into Mombasa County, leaving all other transporters affected to pay the illegal charges,” KTA chair Newton Wang’oo said in a statement.

He said this is against a July 16 judgment by the Supreme Court that the county could not levy charges for use of a road owned by the national government.

The court further ordered the county to refund Sh1.5 million that the miner had paid for use of the Likoni-Ukunda road.

Not a charge for services

“The road in question is the Likoni-Ukunda Road (A14), which falls directly into the category of a national road.

It is not a county road, and the cess imposed by the County Government of Mombasa was improperly imposed and not a charge for service as contemplated by Article 209 (4) of the Constitution of Kenya,” the Supreme Court had ruled.

Therefore, Wangoo said: “Miraa transporters were never supposed to be paying cess in compliance with the judgment by the supreme.”

Joho’s declaration to exempt cess for miraa into Mombasa continued to elicit divergent views from stakeholders.

National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drugs Abuse (NACADA) director Farida Rashid said the governor’s declaration will have a harmful impact on the health of the youth population who are “already grappling with the drugs menace.”