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Dar expels 12 Kenyan traders over border fee
Dr Richard Sezibera. Photo/FILE
By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, April 4 2012 at 22:30
Twelve Kenyan traders have been expelled from Tanzania for failing to pay a $200 (Sh16,600) fee already been waived by the East African Community.The seven women and five men, who buy fruits from Iringa and sell them in Kenya, said they were arrested after their passports were confiscated by the police.
They said the officers gave them an ultimatum to leave Dar es Salaam by Thursday or risk being locked up for being in the country illegally.
"The Immigration Department didn't tell us the reason for the expulsion. It only said we should leave today," Ms Beatrice Wambui said on Wednesday by phone from Tanzania.
Kenya High Commission in Tanzania said it was a case of lack of information on the part of the police as the $200 fee had been waived.
"Information about the fee waiver had not reached the officials," said Mr Boniface Makau, who is in charge of trade at the mission.
Ms Wambui said Tanzanian authorities had made it difficult for them to trade.
"We are harassed every now and then by the officers yet they do not state clearly how we have broken the law," she lamented.
According to the report launched in Nairobi by EAC secretary general Richard Sezibera, Tanzania has the highest form of bureaucratic and legal hurdles.
Bribery
"In 55 per cent of the cases where truck drivers were stopped by traffic officers a non-official payment was made," the report noted.
Following such barriers, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya, in that order, have been most affected, although the EAC states are currently establishing computerised systems.
"Regional integration is the expression of good governance," Dr Sezibera said on Wednesday at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi.
By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, April 4 2012 at 22:30
Twelve Kenyan traders have been expelled from Tanzania for failing to pay a $200 (Sh16,600) fee already been waived by the East African Community.The seven women and five men, who buy fruits from Iringa and sell them in Kenya, said they were arrested after their passports were confiscated by the police.
They said the officers gave them an ultimatum to leave Dar es Salaam by Thursday or risk being locked up for being in the country illegally.
"The Immigration Department didn't tell us the reason for the expulsion. It only said we should leave today," Ms Beatrice Wambui said on Wednesday by phone from Tanzania.
Kenya High Commission in Tanzania said it was a case of lack of information on the part of the police as the $200 fee had been waived.
"Information about the fee waiver had not reached the officials," said Mr Boniface Makau, who is in charge of trade at the mission.
Ms Wambui said Tanzanian authorities had made it difficult for them to trade.
"We are harassed every now and then by the officers yet they do not state clearly how we have broken the law," she lamented.
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ShareThe expulsion comes at a time when a new report launched on Wednesday on the state of the East African Community said Tanzania was the biggest impediment to regional integration.According to the report launched in Nairobi by EAC secretary general Richard Sezibera, Tanzania has the highest form of bureaucratic and legal hurdles.
Bribery
"In 55 per cent of the cases where truck drivers were stopped by traffic officers a non-official payment was made," the report noted.
Following such barriers, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya, in that order, have been most affected, although the EAC states are currently establishing computerised systems.
"Regional integration is the expression of good governance," Dr Sezibera said on Wednesday at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi.