Sakaja has further called on the County Governments of Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Uasin Gishu and Nakuru to revoke business permits issued to the foreigners/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 18 – Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has petitioned the Interior Cabinet Secretary and five urban based County Governments to revoke work and business permits issued to foreign nationals who are engaging in retail trade within 14 days.
Sakaja said he has uncovered a cartel of foreign nationals, mainly from China, who are engaging in trade despite the fact that their work permits describe them as investors and limit the kind of economic activities they can engage in.
“The County Governments which give out permits to those businesses and premises must revoke them within the next 14 days.”
“Our traders have had enough. We must be a country that values our people before we roll out the red carpet to foreigners who are doing work that Kenyans can do, they contribute to the increase of unemployment and lack of opportunities,” the legislator stated.
He lauded the Department of Immigration for ordering the deportation of six Chinese traders who were found trading in Gikomba Open Air Market but insisted that the government must act fast to protect local small and medium sized enterprises and not roll out the red carpet for foreigners at the expense of Kenyans.
Sakaja has further called on the County Governments of Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Uasin Gishu and Nakuru to revoke business permits issued to the foreigners.
“We have unearthed a cartel, we know there are quite a number of them; they have set up go-downs in the industrial areas and various parts of the city where they are importing goods and are trading yet their work permits don’t allow them to do that, I have spoken to the Department of Immigration and we have list of who they are and where they are stationed.”
He added: “Many of them come in under the pretext of engaging in financial services and consultancy, then immediately they go and set up shop in Luthuli, Nyamakima and Gikomba, which we cannot allow.”
Kenyans have recently expressed outrage over reports of an influx of foreign nationals hawking second-hand clothes in various markets.
Small scale businesses in downtown Nairobi have also decried stiff competition in retail businesses located in Gikomba, Kamukunji and Nyamakima markets, which are key entry points for second-hand clothes and cheap Chinese electronic and kitchenware imports.
The Chinese in Gikomba employ foreign staff to carry out tasks like recording sales while hiring Kenyans to ferry goods using carts sourced from China and stored in go-downs located in Industrial Area and along Mombasa Road.
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