PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA RELAXES IMPORT RULES FOR KENYANS IN THE DIASPORA

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing Kenyans living in the United States at Washington Marriott Wardman Park.

Kenyans living in the United States listening to President Uhuru Kenyatta at Washington Marriott Wardman Park.

Washington. President Uhuru Kenyatta has relaxed import rules to allow Kenyans abroad to sell their left-hand-drive cars and get right-hand ones duty-free when they return home. 

The President directed Cabinet Secretaries Michael Kamau (Transport), Henry Rotich (National Treasury) and Adan Mohammed (Industrialisation) to work out ways of easing the import rules for Kenyans living in the diaspora.

While addressing Kenyans at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington, DC, President Kenyatta said he was aware of the restrictions on importing left-hand-drive vehicles, hence his directive to relax the rules. (NMG)

The President also assured the diaspora that the government would provide the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission with all the necessary support to ensure that they participate in the 2017 general elections.

“You have a right as Kenyans in the diaspora to vote and shape the destiny of Kenya,” he said.

The President at the same time encouraged those living abroad to invest in Kenya and named the real estate industry as a profitable venture.

“The other way the diaspora can make more returns with their money is to invest on government plans like housing, energy and health. For instance, by building an estate of 1,000 houses using the PPP (public-private partnership) model, diaspora investors would get better return on their money than just hiding it in banks,” he said.

He said consulates will be opened in Texas and Minnesota to enable Kenyans in the US to access more services.

The Citizen