The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has signed a Transhipment Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) charter with stakeholders at the port of Mombasa to enhance cargo clearance efficiency and boost regional trade. As part of a commitment to boost port operations and clear bottlenecks affecting efficient cargo movement, KRA has signed the Transhipment SOPs for the Port of Mombasa with the Kenya Ports Authority and the Kenya Shipping Agents Association. At the signing ceremony at the KPA Headquarters in Mombasa on in May, the KRA customs and border control commissioner, Mr Kevin Safari, accompanied by KPA general manager, operations Captain William Ruto, and…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
The Kenya Revenue Authority has declared its intension to go for those who advertise and sell their products on social media including Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter and Telegram in a bid to seal loopholes of tax evasion. According to the agency, most of the online businesses are neither paying taxes nor filing annual returns. The trend, the tax collector warns, must change and the traders must file taxes that may include VAT, Excise Duty, Withholding Tax, PAYE, Corporate taxes and any other tax obligation required under the business they may be engaged in. KRA has failed to hit its targets…
Circulars issued by the energy regulator on April 19 and May 19 on jet fuel providers have created unprecedented confusion among major stakeholders in the aviation industry especially as regards their intended objectives and implementation. The circulars say in part that all traders of jet fuel are required to adhere to regulations that are applicable to full fledged Oil Marketing Companies (OMC). It is obvious, however, and market sources confirm that indeed the target of the regulator is foreign and local intermediaries who fall neither under the definition of OMC nor traders. If the new circulars are implemented, it will…
A few days ago, the Kenya Bankers Association, released the latest House Price Index (HPI) of the 1st Q of 2019. This report marks clearly the declining trend that the housing market has been experiencing over the last two years in the most incontrovertible and uncontested way, a negative growth of 2.78% marking the weakness of the sector. According to the Kenya Bankers Association the rate of growth in house prices sunk to a five- year low of 2.78 per cent in the first quarter of the year due to constrained credit flows to both the supply and demand side.…
BY EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA The story of sugar production in Kenya is a mixture of agony, lost opportunities, shattered families, mismanagement and primitive accumulation of wealth by a cabal through exploitation of farmers. In fact, there is both a business and moral question in management of the sugar industry. While farmers suffer losses due to the high cost of production and delayed payments the factory managers make a killing through theft. This is largely to blame for the near collapse of the sugar industry, especially in Western Kenya where it is the source of livelihood for thousands of families. Lack of…
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights recently delivered its first advisory opinion. The decision concerned the legal issues surrounding surrogacy where the Court indicated that countries are not obliged to register a “commissioning mother” in a surrogacy arrangement as birth mother in their civil registry. Nonetheless, the Court also advised that it is in the best interests of the child to establish some legal relationship between the child and the “commissioning mother.” ADF International, a faith-based legal advocacy organization that protects fundamental freedoms and promotes the inherent dignity of all people, was granted permission to file…
BY DR SITNA MWANZI Colorectal cancer is among the top ten cancers in Kenya. This type of cancer can either start at the colon or the rectum otherwise called the large intestine. According to recent Globocan data, there were 1,354 estimated new cases and 937 deaths from colorectal cancer in 2018 in Kenya. There are probably more cases and deaths from colorectal cancer that were not reported or diagnosed. Healthy cells in the lining of the colon or rectum can change and grow out of control, forming a mass called a tumor which can be cancerous/malignant or benign. A cancerous/malignant…
BY DR SULTANI HADLEY MATENDECHERO On my first field visit as head of the Kenyan Ministry of Health’s Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) unit, my team and I travelled through Pongwe-Kidimu, a picturesque coastal region of Kenya, holding focus group discussions with health workers and members of the community to understand the challenges they were facing with NTDs. It was there, a young woman, not much older than 20 years and full of life and potential, stood to speak. Silent and timid throughout the discussion, we hadn’t noticed she was concealing a badly swollen leg typical of elephantiasis until she tearfully…
The pilot of Kenya’s Country Queen, a high-end authentically Kenyan and yet globally accessible TV series, has already created intense buzz and excitement within the industry. Beyond its high production value, this Kenyan-German co-production has broken down barriers and created new norms based on its unique focus on the rural communities of Kenya, as well as its collaborative and Kenyan focused production process. With its cinematic production style and quality, the pilot has been widely acclaimed and will soon continue with production of the full series. Country Queen was first created in 2017 by a writers’ room comprising 10 Kenyan creatives with…
BY AMBROSE KIRAGU King Belshazzar was the son of king Nebuchadnezzar, probably the most powerful king who ever lived. He ruled most of the known world of his day from his headquarters in Babylon. Belshazzar decided, upon ascending the throne to show off his might by making such a lavish feast that would prove to all that he had made it king. Accordingly, he invited a thousand of his princes, nobles, wives and concubines. It was a great day. No doubt, he reasoned, all would judge him very wealthy and powerful and his fame would spread into all corners of…