Traders on Wednesday held major protests in the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) as they accused the government of hurting their businesses with the recent crackdown on importation of counterfeit goods.
Vowing to march to Parliament buildings, importers decried new hurdles when getting their goods cleared while small traders complained that police officers had started harrassing them by storming their shops for supposed inspection of goods.
They demanded that the government get its act together to ensure bodies such as the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) mandated with inspection of goods do their job to avoid such scenarios that negatively impact their businesses.
They explained that regular traders were paying the price for the government's failure to deal with powerful figures behind the importation of contraband goods that include contaminated sugar and fertilizer.
Some of the traders lamented that they were considering closing down their operations as they had been unable to have their containers released at the Port despite having complied with regulations and paid the requisite fees.
[caption caption="Traders protesting in Nairobi on 04/07/2018"]
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Under the banner of 'Trade and Importers Association', they declared that the multi-agency crackdown led by Wanyama Musiambo, Deputy Head of the Public Service, needed to be done in a way that does not affect their businesses.
The ongoing crackdown has seen large quantities of products including sugar and cooking oil impounded from warehouses across the country even as new revelations emerge on the irregular importation of sugar last year by various companies.
A section of leaders have also called for the removal of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich over the sugar importation scandal.
The leaders from Western Kenya stated that Rotich was to blame for the duty-free window that allowed importers to bring in 1.3 Billion kilogrammes of sugar effectively keeping local millers out of business.
Others including ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi have called for a commission of inquiry to be established to look into the maize, sugar and fertilizer scandals.
Below is a video of the ongoing protests:
Demonstrations in the CBD forcing shops to be closed...ati matunda ya tano tena ni #Gutee #ICTandYouthEmployment pic.twitter.com/GwlLGtSBvA
— Amakanji Thomas (@AmakanjiThomas) July 4, 2018
[caption caption="Traders protesting in Nairobi on 04/07/2018"]
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