A surfeit of regulated goods among them drones, sex toys and shisha pipes have congested Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) custom stores due to delayed collection by importers.
KRA Commissioner for Customs and Border Control Lilian Nyawanda has now asked Kenyans to pick the items giving an ultimatum of one month saying goods not collected by lapse of the September 30 deadline will be auctioned or destroyed.
“The warehouse has very limited capacity owing to the slow rate at which permits are issued for restricted items such as drones or frequency at which destructions are conducted for prohibited imports,” Nyawanda said.
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She says the congestion has put the custom warehouses in limbo noting that most Kenyans sourced the items abroad without the knowledge of the stringent permit conditions before they could be allowed into the market.
“Most passengers are unknowledgeable or un-informed on prohibitions of goods such as shisha and sex toys and restrictions imposed on goods such as drones and firearms,” she told local media.
For instance, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations require importers to pay a fee of $30 (Ksh3,294) for bringing in the drones.
After acquiring the increasingly popular gadget for filming and mapping, one is required to get a Remote Operators Certificate to fly the drones in Kenya from the Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA)at a cost of around Ksh80,000 with an annual renewal fee of around Ksh50,000.
The drones operators further require an airworthiness certificate for $50 (about Ksh5,490) in addition to other fees such as "Beyond Visual line of sight" and "Radiotelephone exam".
According to KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe, most drones are lying at JKIA since their importers have defaulted registering them.
