Dealers fault new car checks

Plans by the Radiation Protection Board to subject all vehicles coming from Japan to new tests with additional costs has raised a storm, with dealers claiming that it is a disguised way of raising money for the board.

Investigations reveal that concerns over possible spillover of radiation to countries that import vehicles from Japan are not new.

The Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Centre (Jevic), a firm contracted by the Kenya Bureau of Standards said in June last year that radiation inspection would be conducted under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code and International Atomic Energy Agency’s safety standards. This followed leakage of radioactivity after tsunami floods hit the Fukushima power station in Japan.

“The Kenyan government has added radiation inspection to the criteria. Radiation levels inspections to IAFA standards shall be undertaken to all Fukushima registered vehicles,” said a letter from Jevic to all second-hand car importers in Kenya.

Importers are, however, asking why the Radiation Protection Board has suddenly initiated the tests, and have been joined by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), which accused the newly created body of overstepping its mandate.

They say the Sh5,000 to Sh9,000 being charged by Analytical Quality Services (AQS) on every vehicle, depending on capacity, amounts to double taxation as the vehicles pay Sh19,000 before being shipped for inspection by Kebs-appointed agents that include the Japan Export Vehicle Inspection Centre Company Limited, Auto Terminal Japan Ltd, and Quality Inspection Services Inc Japan which inspect vehicles from Japan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Africa.

The pre-shipment inspection covers the age of the vehicle, road-worthiness, and radiation among other benchmarks. Kenya does not allow vehicles that are more than eight years old into the local market.

The principal radiation officer at the port of Mombasa, Mr Nixon Mudachi, however, said all that changed after radiation was detected in one of the containers early in the year, prompting action.

The board recommends the scanning of the vessels and certificates before the vehicles are released.

Radiotech Solutions and Analytical Quality Solutions, based in Mombasa, are among the companies that the board has appointed to carry out the inspection, but various stakeholders are also questioning when the tenders to offer such services were awarded.