President William Ruto has assured coastal residents that he will revert port operations to Mombasa in line with his campaign promise.
Port operations were moved to Naivasha by immediate former president Uhuru Kenyatta who handed over power to Ruto on Tuesday after serving for 10 years.
“This (Tuesday) afternoon I will be issuing instructions for clearing of goods and other attendant operation issues to revert to the port of Mombasa as I made a commitment to Kenyans,” he said.
During the campaign period, the Head of State asserted that the transfer of operations to Naivasha was against the agreement made during the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) construction.
Ruto said the Naivasha SGR was built to benefit a few individuals, which dealt a blow to the Mombasa economy.
In December 2019, former President Uhuru Kenyatta flagged off a cargo train from Nairobi to Naivasha, marking the start of operations at the Naivasha inland container depot.
In March 2019, the Kenya Ports Authority issued a directive that all cargo destined for Nairobi would have to be ferried on the SGR.
There were protests in Mombasa by shippers and transporters fearing loss of livelihoods. Coast politicians say that the Container freight station economies were affected. Initially, CFSs would handle up to 85 per cent of the cargo docking at Mombasa; it is now down to about 20 per cent.
