Hilarious

Part of my job involves helping new staff to buy cars and buying cars that are used by the office. As such, I deal with various dealers. Abbas, an Indian-Kenyan, is one of my main guys. A few days ago, he told me of this situation, and it was confirmed in yesterday's newspaper.

The Kenyan government is now requiring that all importers get clearance from the Japanese Embassy before registration can be given. Here's the funny part: "...the new rule was introduced without any consultation with the Japanese Embassy"! And the Japanese are refusing to comply. A classic case of the government not planning ahead before they acted. (It's a good lesson for me to remember!)

Part of the reason for this new extra hassle is that the government is trying to prevent stolen cars from being sold. A month or so ago, it was discovered by Interpol that false documents had been given for some vehicles that were being driven by members of parliament! (They had been stolen in Japan and imported to Kenya.)

This affects everyone who wants to buy a vehicle. It used to take 7-10 days for registration to go through. Now it takes 4-6 weeks. As soon as the government can tell the difference between an egg and an apple, we might start getting somewhere.