The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Parliament’s Trade committee has tasked the Uganda National Bureau of Standards-UNBS and Uganda Revenue Authority-URA, to resolve the issue of 2000 cars over the age of 15 years stuck at the country’s borders.
Although the cars belonging to Masaka United Motor Dealers Association were cleared by UNBS for standards as being worthy to run on Uganda’s roads, they were in October blocked by URA in Kenya and Tanzania for being over the age of 15 years which is the new requirement for the importation of used vehicles.
And while the importers say they procured the vehicles before amendments to the permissible age of importation, the COVID-19 lockdown slowed down the process. In June 2018, government banned the importation of cars with manufacture lifespans of more than 15 years.
Now according to the committee chairperson Mwine Mpaka, the government entities URA and UNBS need to resolve the matter. He says if there are fines to pay, URA and UNBS need to ascertain who should pay it, and if the vehicles are to be destroyed or confiscated, who faces the loss.
The Executive Director UNBS David Livingston Ebiru, said that as UNBS, they are convinced that the vehicles are road worthy but the only problem is that their years of manufacture are more than 15 years ago. He says they will work with URA to ensure that a solution is found to have these vehicles released.
The committee also questioned the functionality of the Pre-Export Verification of Conformity PVOC service providers who are supposed to inspect vehicles abroad before they come into Uganda, as some members testified that they bought vehicles from United Arab Emirates but they were not inspected.
Katerera County MP Muhammad Kato said the representatives of UNBS abroad were doing a shoddy work, and not actually inspecting the vehicles purchased.
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