Phone Duty Cut: Ruto Proposes Scrapping 25% Import Levy on Mobile HandsetsPhone Duty Cut: Ruto Proposes Scrapping 25% Import Levy on Mobile Handsets
Key Highlights
- Kenya plans to remove the 25% import duty on mobile phones, a levy that raises the shelf price of handsets many households use for banking, business and school work.
- No start date or revenue estimate was given, and the change still needs legal and customs processes before shop prices can fall.
- Treasury is due to take the tax proposals to Parliament next week, where the text will show how the cut is delivered.
Kenya plans to scrap the 25% import duty on mobile phones, a change that could lower the shelf price of handsets if Parliament approves it.
The proposal matters because phones are the main route to mobile money, online work and school content for many Kenyans, and an import duty adds directly to what a buyer pays at the counter. No start date was given, so shoppers should not expect prices to move yet.
What was announced
President William Ruto said in his Mashujaa Day address in Eldoret on 20 October that the government will remove the 25% import duty on mobile phones. He said the removal would happen through the necessary legal and customs processes, and that phones are now essential tools for education, business, banking and employment. In his words, a mobile phone is no longer a luxury.
The National Treasury has been directed to take the tax proposals to Parliament from next week. The speech did not say whether the duty would go for all phones or only some categories, or when the change would take effect.
What is not yet known
Mwenendo could not find a published revenue estimate for the cut, so the cost to the Kenya Revenue Authority is unconfirmed. Handset prices also depend on other charges, such as VAT and the exchange rate, which the announcement did not address.
Retail pass-through is another open point. Duty relief does not always reach buyers in full, and importers may keep part of the gain unless competition forces prices down. The size of any fall in shelf prices will only be clear once the change is in force.
One pledge among several in the same speech
The phone duty was one of several pledges in the address. As Mwenendo earlier reported, the President also announced 50,000 more internship places, and Mwenendo earlier reported on how the PAYE exemption line left design questions unanswered.
Like those measures, the duty cut is a proposal until the legal text is tabled and passed.
What a cheaper handset means for traders
For small traders who run their business through a handset, a cheaper phone lowers the cost of getting online and taking mobile payments. For the Treasury, the same cut means giving up a tax that applies to a widely imported product. The tabled bill should show how the two are balanced.
In Summary
- Who announced the plan?
- President William Ruto, with the National Treasury directed to take it to Parliament.
- What is proposed?
- Removal of the 25% import duty on mobile phones.
- When will it apply?
- No date was given; proposals go to Parliament from next week.
- Where was it announced?
- At the Mashujaa Day celebrations in Eldoret on 20 October 2026.
- Why scrap the duty?
- Phones are now essential for education, business, banking and employment, the President said.
- How would it be done?
- Through the necessary legal and customs processes, details of which are not yet published.