diff -up krop-0.5.1/krop/config.py.sip krop-0.5.1/krop/config.py
--- krop-0.5.1/krop/config.py.sip	2019-09-18 15:22:09.851429103 -0500
+++ krop-0.5.1/krop/config.py	2019-09-18 16:35:51.347966628 -0500
@@ -2,23 +2,26 @@ import sys
 
 PYQT5 = False
 try:
-    import sip
     # use PyQt5 unless not available or specified otherwise
     if '--no-qt5' not in sys.argv:
         try:
             import PyQt5
             PYQT5 = True
+            import PyQt5.sip
+            PyQt5.sip.setapi('QString', 2)
+            PyQt5.sip.setapi('QVariant', 2)
         except ImportError:
             pass
     if not PYQT5:
         import PyQt4
+        import PyQt4.sip
+        PyQt4.sip.setapi('QString', 2)
+        PyQt4.sip.setapi('QVariant', 2)
+
 except ImportError:
     _msg = "Please install PyQt4 or PyQt5 first."
     raise RuntimeError(_msg)
 
-sip.setapi('QString', 2)
-sip.setapi('QVariant', 2)
-
 # use KDE unless not available or specified otherwise
 KDE = False
 if '--no-kde' not in sys.argv: