THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONE STOP BORDER POST CONCEPT ON BORDER MANAGEMENT IN KENYA A CASE OF NAMANGA BORDER POST

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of OSBP concept on border management in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to assess whether one stop border posts have enhanced efficient clearance of people and goods, to evaluate if OSBP improved interagency coordination among state MDAs in Kenya, and to ascertain whether OSBPs enhanced cross border interagency coordination. The researcher used both primary and secondary data. Primary data were gathered through both open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires emailed to the respondents while secondary data were gathered from documents such as books, reports and online data on Namanga one stop border post. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 24.0) was used to analyze the data collected. Differences and similarities were summarized to establish trends, patterns and information from the data collected so as to answer the research objectives. On the effectiveness in clearance of goods and services, the study found that it took less than one hour to clear special goods and between one hour and three hours to clear other goods. The study found that there was an improvement since it took almost four hours to clear special goods before upgrading to the OSBP concept while it took more than a day to clear other goods. The study found that there has been improvement in the clearance of both people and goods through the principle of extraterritoriality people and goods only made one stop while crossing the border. This has enhanced efficiency in the movement of people and goods. The study found that there has been improvement on inter-agency coordination. Such improvement was noted in terms of sharing information among government agencies within Kenya and between Kenyan and Tanzanian government agencies as well as in coordinated operation. For policy, the study recommends that the management of the one stop border facilities required high level involvement of all the public and private stakeholders. This will result to more opinions on how to craft and implement the strategy. Involving all players in the implementation and consultations would result in more support, exchange of ideas and informed decisions. The study limitations were that some of the respondents did not return the questionnaires. Tracing them proved futile since they were working in shifts which had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, limitation of the study was related to the fact that the study was based at Namanga and this makes the findings ungeneralizable to other OSBPs in Kenya. Based on the study findings, the researcher recommends that a replica study be done in other OSBPs to find out the similarities or differences in the effectiveness of the OSBP concept on border management in those borders.