NAIROBI (Halbeeg News) – Thousands of Somali traders have resumed their operations following three days of business standstill.
On 2nd of this month, traders in the area had closed down their malls, shops, and outlets to protest what they termed exorbitant levies on cargo.
In a meeting brokered by Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan, the traders and officials from Kenya’s Revenue Authority deliberated means to iron out the dispute.
Hassan has disclosed that KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini’s intervention helped to put an end to the go-slow.
“Successfully brokered a win-win solution between Eastleigh traders and KRA, The Eastleigh Shutdown is now over and the hub is once again opened for business. Many thanks to RC Nairobi Wilson Njega and CG KRA John Njiraini for their decisive action,” the lawmaker said in a Twitter post.
Eastleigh Business Community chairman, Sheikh Ibrahim Hussein has also confirmed that the deadlock was ended following a successful meeting the concern traders and the revenue authority.
“We agreed to resume the business back as our concerns were addressed by the revenue authority. The business community has started their normal operations and things will return normal,” he said.
The end of the stalemate offers a reprieve for shoppers who were on unable to access fabrics, clothes, and foodstuffs at the business hub.
Initially, the traders accused the country’s revenue authority of increasing tax for 40 feet containers from Sh3 million (30,000 USD) to Sh12 million (120,000 USD).
The tax agency started charging the additional levies in February, this year without giving the traders notice or even consulting them.
Eastleigh Business Community said the rates have increased from the initial Sh800,000 before jumping to Sh1.2 million then to Sh3 million in late 2018.
The traders said thousands of their containers were stuck at the Mombasa Port as they were unable to afford the new levies.
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