Ammunition belongs to Kenya, says Mutua

By Githua Kihara gkihara@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Monday, March 7 2011 at 22:00

In Summary

• Vessel headed for Kenya was detained but later freed by Angolan officials

The government on Monday confirmed it had bought four containers of high calibre ammunition from the United States and the ship delivering it was on the way to Mombasa.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua cleared the air on the ammunition after it was reported that the ship carrying it was briefly detained in Angola and released and was on its way to Mombasa.

A check at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) had shown they were yet to be notified of the ship’s arrival.

“The government wishes to confirm that it is expecting delivery of four containers of ammunition purchased from the United States. A ship ferrying the ammunition is on the way to Mombasa after making a stop-over in Angola. The government has verified that the ship has left Angola and is expected to be docking soon,” Dr Mutua said in a statement.

He said there were no arms in the containers.

“The purchase is a normal weapons requisition conducted in a normal tender and the consignment consists only of ammunition and not armaments. The ammunition is of a calibre that we do not yet have the capacity to manufacture, hence the requisition from the US,” he said.

In Mombasa, KPA assistant harbour master Adnan Banafa said they were yet to receive any information on the vessel.

It is mandatory for every vessel headed for Mombasa to furnish the KPA through a local agent, with details of the ship, nature of cargo and date of arrival.

“We have not received any information on the intention of the vessel to call at the port of Mombasa for our 14-day list of expected vessels that we generate daily,” a KPA officer who cannot be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to the media said.

The vessel, the Maersk Constellation, was not on the 14-day list compiled yesterday and KPA could not give any of its details.

Mr Banafa said this could be because it was supposed to call at other ports before sailing into Mombasa.

On Monday Maersk officials could not establish the itinerary of the vessel and its expected arrival date in Mombasa.

Maersk Kenya managing director Rolf Nielsen said: “Maersk Constellation is not a Maersk Line vessel, it operates for our sister company Maersk Line Limited, which is an American company.”

Military spokesperson Bogita Ongeri said Kenya buys arms through agencies and ownership could only be established when the vessel docked.