Joho firms allowed to resume operations

A police Officer patrols Portside Container Freight Station (CFS) in Mombasa County Photo/Kelvin Karani

The dispute between Mombasa Governor Ali Joho's family and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over the closure of two container freight stations has been settled.

This follows a decision to allow the two companies, which had sued KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini for contempt of court, to resume operations pending a complete resolution of the dispute.

The  move to enter an out-of-court settlement between KRA and the two companies has saved the country from a crisis as rice importers from Pakistan had threatened to lobby for a boycott of Kenya's tea.

Last week, Kenya Freight International Warehouse Association Chairman Eric Gitonga asked Kenya Ports Authority and KRA officials to resolve the dispute as it was hurting business between Kenya and Pakistan.

He insisted the dispute should not spill over to the clearing and forwarding agents whose work was to clear the goods and ensure they left the port immediately the taxes due had been paid.

There were 2,000 containers from Pakistan, which were destined for the Portside Freight Terminal Container Station and Auto Port Freight Station, but could not be cleared following the dispute.

Portside and Auto Port have already resumed normal operations after their lawyers and KRA entered an agreement before Justice Peter Otieno.

 Civic Jail

The stations, which are owned by the Joho family, had sued KRA for contempt for allegedly disobeying a February High Court order that suspended a decree from the taxman. The firms wanted Mr Njiraini jailed for six months, accusing him of not obeying a court order suspending KRA's decrees of the two stations.

KRA lawyer David Ontweka told Justice Otieno last Friday that the hearing of contempt proceedings against his boss should not proceed to enable the two parties to settle the dispute out of court. "My Lords, the two parties want this matter to be taken off today's list and adjourned to another day to enable the dispute be settled amicably out of court," said Mr Ontweka.

Portside's lawyer Ahmednassir Abdulahi said his client had no problem with KRA's decision to resolve the matter out of court as long as KRA did not disobey the court order restraining it from interfering with the operation of his client's business.

The new orders allowing the operation to resume with immediate effect will also apply to Auto Port, which had also been closed.

Ontweka promised to ensure KPA complied with the orders because it had also been sued by the company, which had also applied to have its top managers sent to civil jail for failing to obey a court order stopping them from interfering with the movement of cargo to the two stations.

Otieno ordered the two parties to report back on May 4 with an agreement.