On 16^th November 2022, KEPSA through the Transport Sector Board held a Ministerial Stakeholder Forum (MSF) with Hon. Kipchumba Murkomen, the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport in his office at Transcom House Nairobi.

In his presentation Mr. Newton Wang’oo, KEPSA Transport Sector Board Chair congratulated the Cabinet Secretary on his appointment and reaffirmed KEPSA’s commitment to partnering with the Ministry to deliver a competitive transport sector. He further appreciated the directive by the President that facilitated the freedom of choice of railage from the Mombasa Port.

He further emphasized on the need to entrench technology in the sector to reduce the wastage of resources and avenues of corruption thus increasing government and private sector revenues.

During the meeting, KEPSA presented the following issues to the Cabinet Secretary:

• The clearance of cargo: The removal of the remarshalling costs as Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) does not offer the service anymore and changing the free period from calendar days to 5 working days,
• Human Resource Management of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and KPA at the Port and Boarder Points,
• Implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), and the Open Skies Policy,
• Establishment of a stand-alone National Aviation Policy and its implementation,
• Review of Taxes imposed on aviation and adherence to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards on taxation in the aviation industry,
• Development of Aviation Infrastructure, and
• Delivering reliable road transport through public service vehicles (PSV).

In his remarks, the Cabinet Secretary started by appreciating the role of the Private Sector in trade facilitation to ensure efficient and affordable trade practices. He added that he was eager to continue engaging KEPSA in policymaking and implementation.

“As a ministry, we shall continue to implement policies and projects to ensure Kenya remains competitive in the transport sector.” He said.

The following was the progress reported by the Cabinet Secretary;

• Discussions on last-mile connectivity are ongoing, to ensure a stable and reliable trade ecosystem with efficient transport mediums from port to rail to road.
• The Port of Lamu and Mombasa are being expanded and further roads are being constructed between Lamu and Moyale, with a goal of constructing Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Moyale. This will tap into the 50 million population in South Sudan and Northern Ethiopia.
• The Cabinet Secretary noted that there were plans to build a new terminal at JKIA and called upon the private sector to take on the PPP opportunity in transport infrastructure expansion and development projects.
• The Instant Fines System was being piloted and will soon be rolled out to the entire country starting with the Capital City.
• The Cabinet Secretary also noted that the entrenching technology was key to assisting the management of some elements of transport. E.g Instant Fines and Electronic Traffic Management.

As a way forward, the following were the outcomes of the meeting:

• KEPSA through Kenya Association of Air Operators (KAAO) will share a detailed 2 pager on the effects of taxation in the aviation sub-sector.
• A meeting to discuss the matrix of issues in detail will be convened in 2 weeks’ time.
• KEPSA and the Transport ministry will have a continuous engagement and development of the engagement matrix with issues of mutual benefit to the two parties.
• The private sector will be plugged into the national aviation policy formulation workstream.