Government e-services

The Government today launched a new service for tracking passport and ID applications via sms. Sounds like a step in the right direction and I hope it works well. 

Motor Vehicle CRSP List (Current Retail Sale Price)

Edit: I just re-read this post and realised that I did not properly explain what the CRSP is.

The CRSP is the list of vehicle values that KRA use to calculate duty payable on vehicle imports. It is basically the showroom price of a new vehicle as bought from a main dealer at the time of importing. When importing a car, KRA will usually calculate your duty payable as a percentage of the CRSP of the car.

Happy New Year.

The past few days have been filled with intense frustration trying to get hold of the current KRA CRSP list.

I called KRA who directed me to the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association..or KIFWA for short (apparently the list is given to KIFWA for onward circulation to clearing agents and KIFWA members). After much calling and a little running around, I managed to track KIFWA down (because the contact details they have in the directory are out of date). Anyway KIFWA claim not to have the CRSP or to have heard of it so they directed me back to KRA. I also tried to get the same through a clearing agent but had no luck (they sent me an outdated list).

I simply cannot for the life of me understand why something like that is kept secret/hidden. It is what is used to calculate duty payable on imported cars so common sense says that it should be available to all so that anyone can calculate their duty easily. It should be available as a download on the KRA website...afterall they already have the duty calculation template available for download. That way, I do not have to waste my time calling KRA everyday to get new vehicle prices and they can concentrate on serving more important functions.