MOMBASA, August 30- President Mwai Kibaki Saturday directed the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and other relevant Government agencies to be extra vigilant in order to apprehend and prosecute those importing sub-standard and counterfeit goods.
Explaining that his Government was aware that the manufacturing sector was threatened by unfair competition from imported sub-standard goods, President Kibaki emphasized that no one would be allowed to turn Kenya into a dumping ground.
“We must not allow Kenya to become the dumping ground for sub-standard goods,” President Kibaki said.
The President spoke when he officially opened the Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Limited, a pharmaceutical company at Changamwe in Mombasa.
He encouraged local manufacturers to focus on the export markets, saying the Government has created a suitable environment for an export-driven industrial sector.
He, therefore, urged them to take advantage of the conducive opportunities provided by the Government to increase their production capacity and create more jobs for Kenyans.
President Kibaki also challenged investors in the EPZ to diversify from apparels into other products, adding that there were many unexploited opportunities in horticulture and floriculture processing, pharmaceuticals, and call centre services among others.
He commended Revital Healthcare for being one of the few companies in the EPZ, that does not manufacture apparels and whose products were being exported to the neighbouring countries of Sudan, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.
“I am glad to note that this factory has already commenced operations with a production capacity of 20 million syringes per month, making it the largest facility of its kind in East and Central Africa,” the President said.
He said there should be more emphasis on industrialization for Kenya to attain its Vision 2030 goals and called on investors to embrace new technologies which would help them raise productivity and make the country’s industries internationally competitive.
