Big push to up efficiency at Mombasa

Heads of Kenyan parastatals have been warned that their jobs could be on the line if they do not raise efficiencies in the port of Mombasa and along the Northern Transit Corridor. “New infrastructure alone will not deliver the efficiency we desire in the port and in the northern corridor. It is not enough to expand and improve infrastructure; we must also look at our policies, processes and systems with a fresh eye to see what we can improve and what we must discard,” says Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta. “That is why, in June last year, I issued a directive ordering the streamlining of port operations. A chief aim of that directive was to cut transit time from Mombasa to Malaba from 18 days to five,” he said. Transit times from Mombasa to Malaba on the Kenya/Uganda border have subsequently been reduced to five days. “It was encouraging to see that we reached that target in very little time, and with almost no new investment. This is a lesson – if a lesson was needed – that dedicated management and good systems and processes are as important as the infrastructure itself,” said the president. He was speaking at the signing ceremony of the Mombasa Port Community Charter. INSERT & CAPTION Dedicated management and good systems and processes are as important as the infrastructure itself. – President Uhuru Kenyatta