NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 3 – Senators have urged the Ministry of Trade to have a structured engagement with investors so as to resolve the ongoing tiff between local and foreign investors that has led to the closure of China Square.
A raging debate has been ongoing with elicit reactions emerging after a Chinese Trader rented a mall store along Thika Road that has received warm reception from customers.
Led by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei the legislators insisted on the need to have no bias strategy in promoting foreign business, faulting Trade CS Moses Kuria for the closure of the Chinese enterprise.
“It is my humble plea to the Ministry of Trade and Industrialization to have a structured engagement with the investors to resolve the matter without hurting their businesses since Kenya has a policy enabling an equitable no-bias and protective to the business environment for trade and investment in the country,” Cherargei said.
According to the senators, details from the Kenya Investment Authority (KIA) show that the Foreign Direct Investment to Kenya now stands at over Sh200Billion which is invested annually.
They questioned why Chinese traders were being frustrated yet the country has well-established foreign companies such as the Carrefour chain of supermarkets, Java House, and Quickmart supermarket continuing with operations.
“The foreign investors have created employment for the youth and contributed to the Growth of the Kenyan economy and especially at a time when we were being faced with hard economic times,” Cherargei stated.
He was flanked by Senators Alexander Mundigi (Embu), Mohammed Faki (Mombasa), Issa Juma (Kwale), James Lomenen (Turkana) , Mohammed Chute (Marsabit) and Mumias East MP Peter Salasya.
Faki expressed that the economic crisis globally and therefore the nation cannot afford to chase away foreign investors who extensively contributed to economic growth.
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
“The economy is dilapidated not only in the country but globally to the extent that we cannot borrow funds from other nations. It’s not possible that we are going to look for investors on one end and on the other end we are chasing them away,” the Mombasa Senator said.
The statement by the senators comes amidst wrangles between a Chinese businessman and Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on the operations of the China Square, a retail store at Kenyatta University’s Unicity Mall.
The ongoing drama has threatened to cause a diplomatic tiff between the two countries who have heavily invested in the country in recent years.
On February 26, China Square extended the suspension of its operations citing public safety challenges.
The store owned by Chinese businessman Lei Cheng announced the move on after hours of escalating drama following deportation threats by Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria.
“As a supermarket, we are unable to handle the high volume of traffic, which has become a severe concern for the public safety of all our customers, we are arranging more security guards onsite,” China Square said in a statement.
The supermarket also cited the inability to provide sufficient payment processing facilities, a situation it noted had resulted in long queues which had negatively impacted customer experience.
Earlier on Lei had dismissed calls for him to close shop as malicious. Lei said his business is compliant to all legal requirements.
“My business is legal and is centered on healthy competition,” he said. “We followed all government requirements for setting up a business and are here to break monopolies.”
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Lei blamed his accusers saying they were seeking to perpetuate the continued exploitation of the Kenyan consumer by rogue businesspersons.
He responded even as Kuria vowed to deport him and any foreign national engaged in retail trade, terming his Unicity Mall store as a threat to local traders.
Kuria’s intervention followed a protest memorandum by a business association bringing together representatives of traders in Nairobi’s leading markets.
Wu Peng Director-General, Department of African Affairs, MFA, China said Monday that through collective efforts, the cooperation will also benefit Kenya.
Peng said a non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory investment environment is vital to the healthy development of bilateral practical cooperation between the two countries.
