Kenya Revenue Authority acquires system to curb tax evasion

KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini

MOMBASA, KENYA: Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) will replace the obsolete Simba System with a modern integrated Customs Management System (iCMS) in June in a move to curb tax evasion.

KRA said that the Simba system, used in the clearing of imported goods by custom agents, was old and was subject to abuse by rogue agents to evade duty.

KRA Commissioner for Customs and Border Control Julius Musyoki said the system was outdated and had over the years experienced a downtime of several hours leading to delay in movement of cargo from the port of Mombasa.

"Implementation of the new interpreted Customs (iCMS) will start end next month when we will do the piloting and commission it in June," said Musyoki in Mombasa.

He said the new system will be fitted with feature to do automated benchmarking of cargo value to help address the perennial challenge of cargo under-valuation.

Other benefits of the new system whose implementation is financed through a sh.1.1 billion financing from the National Treasury and Trade Mark East Africa will be able to be integrated to the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking Platform.

The electronic tracking platform has already been agreed by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and shall use one system which will enable all countries to monitor the movement of cargo from the port to the final destination.