The last time we learned something about the National Addressing System (NAS) was about two years ago.
At that period, the CA announced that it had made sufficient adjustments to see the launch of NAS, which by itself had been in development for a while.
Word from the CA, the ICT Ministry, and other stakeholders has it that NAS could be launched in the near future after all.
From 2016: Implementation of the National Addressing System to Cost Kshs. 2.8 Billion
The announcement was made during the celebration of World Post Day. Executives from the CA, as well as a representative for CS Mucheru(CAS Maureen Mbaka) were in attendance.
It has since been revealed that the pandemic has seen a lot of businesses go online to make sales in a development that has seen the ecommerce space grow substantially.
Another key point to note is that NAS is being complemented with technological advances that we have seen in the recent past. It has also seen input from post/courier businesses.
We are also undertaking a market study in the postal/courier subsector in order to establish the service access gaps to inform remedies and initiatives towards boosting services access for consumers. – CA DG Ezra Chiloba
However, this is not the end of the NAS dialogue because the ICT Ministry has announced plans to examine all ecommerce platforms to ensure that they have licenses for their businesses. Those that are running without the documents will be closed.
The directive has been given by CA Joe Mucheru.
I am calling upon the CA to enhance its enforcement activities across the country to ensure that those firms operating without licenses are weeded out of the market, for they are not undercutting licensed operators and denying the government of revenues from license fees and taxes, they pose a risk to consumers who have no redress when their items are lost by these firms – CS Joe Mucheru.
The CA defines ecommerce as ‘the trading or facilitation of trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet among others.’
The date for the activity has not been given, but it is now clear that ecommerce platforms that have been running their operations without licensing will be looked into.
