Traders with a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Personal Registered Number (PIN) registered in Nairobi and working in Mombasa or having business interests in the coastal city are being barred from freely clearing and transporting their goods, an MP has claimed.

Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir has since raised the matter in parliament seeking a statement as to why the authority was discriminating against traders using the PIN as a scapegoat.

“The draconian rule being applied by the authority appears to alienate Mombasa as not part of Kenya,” says Nassir.

The MP wants the chairperson of the Finance and National Planning Committee to explain who gave the orders barring the Nairobi KRA PIN holders from trading freely in Mombasa.

“Could the chairperson explain the measures taken by the government to ensure that the economy of Mombasa County is protected from illegal and unconstitutional practices that force traders to use the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR),” reads the statement. 

Nassir who is also the Public Investment Committee (PIC) chairman wants the committee clarify what punitive measures the government is taking against those instituting the illegal and unconstitutional directives.

Quoting the recently released report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on the economic survey, Nassir said that 27 per cent of the entire Mombasa County gross production was from transport and logistics way above what the other economic sectors like hospitality and tourism, real estate and housing, manufacturing contribute to the area’s wealth growth and should be protected by all means.

The Kenya Association of Road Transporters (KTA) through its chairman Newton Wang’oo, has also waded in the saga cautioning that underhand and unfair practices will not sustain key government projects meant to boost efficiency.

“It is wrong for the government to compel importers and traders to use SGR when transporting goods.

“The government should not use illegal tactics against a free-market economic model, compelling importers to use SGR.

This is unconstitutional and our courts of law have ruled to that effect,’’ Wang’oo said last week.