Union opposes mounting calls to privatise the port of Mombasa

By BENARD SANGA

Mombasa County, KENYA: Debate is raging over the future of the port of Mombasa, with fresh calls from local shipping experts on the Government to privatise the facility.

The renewed pressure comes hot on the heels of the Mombasa county government’s threat to move to court to force the national government to relinquish ownership of the facility.

“The Kenya Ports Authority Act is inconsistent with the Constitution and so according to the Sixth Schedule (Section 7), it (KPA Act) is null and this means that the port and ferry services should be under the county governments,” said Mombasa County Senator Hassan Omar yesterday.

Stakeholders in the shipping logistics supply chain said the move would increase efficiency and bring down import costs through Mombasa.

“Let’s drop the word privatisation and adopt commercialisation so the national government would be the landlord but concede cargo handling services as a matter of urgency. The berths should be given to different private handlers and that would create competition and bring down the costs of import,” said Silvester Kututa, the managing director of Express Shipping and Logistics in a telephone interview yesterday.

He said port workers and Coast politicians had misinterpreted privatisation to mean the port’s sale to private firms when in fact, commercialisation would lead to increased production at the Mombasa port.

Keen to sell

But the Government’s past efforts to privatise the port have elicited sharp criticism from the giant Dock Workers’ Union (DWU) and local MPs, who say the move would lead to the loss of jobs.

Yesterday DWU Chairman Jefa Kiti said the union would not accept the concession of port services as they were currently efficient.

“The Privatisation Act 2005 stipulates that the public institutions that should be privatised are those that are not doing well in terms of efficiency and profits. We (DWU) do not understand why some people in the Government are keen to sell the port,” said Kiti in an interview.

In October 2009, the Privatisation Commission of Kenya announced that it had started the process of identifying a consultant firm that would advise the Government on which part of the port to privatise.

DP World, the renowned port operator, indicated that it was ready to buy the Mombasa container terminal if it would be up for sale.

The World Bank has in the past warned that competing interests at the port affects the facility’s efficiency. According to Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Gichiri Ndua, privatisation of port facilities was a worldwide trend that African ports could not run away from.