Towns where Kenyan goods disappeared from the shelves

By Adow Jubat and Boniface Ongeri

After Somalia plunged into anarchy in 1991, militia established territories and decentralised cross border trade. This gave way to numerous unofficial entry points on the expansive border.

In recent years, reports show Islamist groups like the Al Shabaab have joined the fray to fund their insurgency against the frail Transitional Federal Government of Sheikh Sherif.

Today, the Kenya-Somalia border is abuzz with trade on illegal firearms, motor vehicles, petroleum products, textiles, tyres, satellite dishes, spare parts, electronics, phones and sugar from Somalia.

Hinterland traders wishing to do business with their counterparts in Eastern Province part with illicit cess to militia groups.

By 1993, goods manufactured in Kenya started vanishing from the local shops as traders switched to cheap and uncertified goods.

If you asked for, say, a packet of Mumias sugar at any of the shops, most shopkeepers will stare at you blankly as they do not stock Kenyan products.

Dishonest officials

They mostly stock products from non-Comesa (Common Market for East and South African) countries and it is not difficult to discern why.

The Government loses revenue running into billions of shillings through cross border smuggling. However, the traders say the Government is to blame after it closed the border in 2006 to check on militants flocking the country.

The traders also accuse the Government of failing to protect those who deal in locally manufactured goods.

"Despite our cries that the traders who import uncertified goods were giving us unfair competion nothing was done. So some of us joined the bandwagon and now deal in smuggled goods," says a shopkeeper in Garissa who sought anonymity.

"It is illogical for the Government to expect us to transport goods from Mombasa or Nairobi over bad roads when we have a border next door," says Ali Mohammed who "imports" Brazilian sugar from Somalia said.

The Kenya Chambers of Commerce and Industries Wajir Branch Chairman Mohammed Abdille tells us that lack of custom offices was the reason traders avoided paying tax. "Traders, especially in Wajir and Mandera, begged for the establishment of offices to save them the unnecessary expense of travelling to Garissa to declare their imports and pay taxes," he says.

Despite custom offices being established in 2005, Abdille says it has not solved the problem.

There are dozens of illegal routes locally known as donkey routes, so called because donkey carts are commonly used to sneak the goods into the country.

Illegal trade

Sometimes taxis are hired to ferry the cargo in bits.

Somali-registered heavy commercial trucks also weave their way around cross-border tracks, carrying smuggled goods in the full glare of the police and KRA officers. Often junior police officers claim that their seniors frustrate their efforts to curb illegal trade by protecting the smugglers, who pay protection fees.

Instances abound where police officers that seize smuggled goods have been transferred to remote and harsh police outpost.

"It is business here and because we can’t beat them we are forced to join them," says an officer in Garissa who sought anonymity.

The smuggled goods often end up in Dadaab from where they are supplied to Garissa.

Yumbis Ward Councillor Abdi Ahmed Shuriye says lack of verification at point of entry by KRA and police officers was fuelling trade in smuggled goods.

"Lack of verification at point of entry gives dishonest traders the leeway to smuggle illegal firearms, hard drugs and contrabands," he says.

Ijara OCPD Rems Warui complains that some KRA officers were a stumbling block to the fight against smuggling.

Mr Warui says numerous panya routes along the border hamper the fight.

However, a KRA officer in Moyale who spoke to us on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak for the revenue body says verifications of the imports were a prerogative of the security personnel.

"Security agents are to confirm whether what is in the KRA receipts corresponds with what is in the vehicle," he says.