NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 3 – Trade, Investment and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria now says that he will not ban the importation of second-hand clothes commonly known as mitumba in the country but will rather make them less competitive.
Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV, Kuria noted that Kenya needs to borrow a leaf from South Africa where its manufacturing industry has shot up thus creating more jobs after the ban on importation of second-hand clothes.
The CS noted that under the African Growth and Opportunity (AGOA), Kenyan exporters sell clothes to the United States of America (USA) at cheaper prices compared to what is available under mitumba imports.
“My point is that I don’t need to ban mitumba, and I will not ban mitumba. But I will make mitumba not competitive. I will give people better options, and that is what I said. I will make sure that people are able to buy clothes made in Kenya at cheaper prices,” said Kuria
The CS further noted that Kenyans will have free will of buying clothes, either mitumba or locally manufactured clothes.
“The whole conversation is if I make mitumba to have a lesser value proposition, and I make locally manufactured clothes to be competitive. I don’t believe in banning things, I believe in making the other product less competitive. It is up to me to ensure people don’t go for mitumba, and mitumba will die naturally,” he said.
This comes after the CS had indicated that his ministry will strive to make more locally manufactured clothes that are cheaper to support the Buy Kenya Build Kenya initiative during the Changamka Shopping Festival at KICC Tuesday.
He noted that the country’s textile industry is lagging, employing approximately 50,000 people whereas countries like Bangladesh employ more than 5 million people in the sector.
Kenya’s second-hand clothing imports keep rising, from Sh10 billion to Sh18 billion in the last six years.
Most of the secondhand clothing imports in Kenya come from the US and Europe but in recent years, China has overtaken them followed by Poland, Germany and The United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to a report on Global Production Networks of the Second-Hand Clothing Industry, four out of every five people on the continent wear second-hand clothes.
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