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Government Loses Sh40 Million To Coffee Smugglers

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Published on Saturday, 07 July 2007 07:40
The government lost Sh40 million in taxes in Nyamira District last year through the smuggling of coffee to Uganda. A Coffee Board of Kenya official, Mr. Enos Akuma, yesterday blamed the provincial administration in the region for failing to assist the board to crack down on those involved in the smuggling.

Mr. Akuma, the Nyanza CBK area manager, said the district earned only Sh90 million last year from the crop due to the illicit trade.

"Our independent investigations have revealed that some chiefs and District Officers are involved in a cartel depriving this country of foreign exchange by being involved in the illegal trade", Mr. Akuma said.

He said the Coffee Board was also being frustrated by courts which gave light penalties to culprits of the unlicensed trade.

"Fining a culprit Sh5,000 for being found in possession of coffee worth Sh200,000 is equivalent to acquittal," he said.

Mr. Akuma was addressing reporters in Nyamira after inspecting 200 bags of coffee impounded by police while in transit out of the country.The consignment is believed to have been stolen from local coffee factories.

Mr. Akuma criticised coffee factory management committees for frustrating farmers by not paying them on time.Due to delayed payment, he said, farmers had resorted to selling coffee at market centres. He cited Miruka, Karota and Marani as some of the centres where the trade was rife.