Kenya's tax organ Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) asked the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to formulate a law for the joint collection of customs duties on all goods coming into the region through ports, Ugandan state- owned daily New Vision reported on Monday.

Owuor Ominde, KRA assistant commissioner of customs service department told the EALA committee on communication, trade and investment that the tax authority was facing problems in collecting customs duties.

"The major problem today is with Uganda. If Uganda collected its customs duty at Mombasa port, the problem of transit diversion would be solved," Ominde was quoted as saying.

"We would not bother with the transit bonds because the taxes would have been collected at the entry point," he said while addressing a public hearing convened by the EALA committee at Nairobi Safari Club late last week.

The committee chaired by George Nangale was carrying out an on- spot assessment of the progress of the East African Customs Union which came into effect early last year.

Nangale said there were complaints from the business community about the administration of the customs union, and the committee was studying the situation.

Ominde told the business community that Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania should reach an agreement on whether the East African Community should collect the customs duty as a unit and disburse it or each country should do customs duty collection at the port.

As a landlocked country, Uganda relies mainly on the Kenyan port of Mombasa as its main entry.

Source: Xinhua