A new report by Anti-Counterfeits Agency (ACA) has shown that nearly three-quarters of Kenyans use counterfeit goods.
According to the government bureau, the most counterfeited goods in the market are mobile phones at 51.8 percent and alcohol at 30.8 percent.
DVD players come in third at 26.4 percent while bottled water follows at 24 percent.
Other commonly counterfeited goods are lubricants, computer software, accessories and toners.
Out of the 70 percent who use bogus products, 19 percent purchase the goods knowingly while 49.6 percent claim they bought the goods because they were cheap.
Additional 17.3 percent were looking for original items but couldn’t find and 18.3 percent were not aware of the risks.
ACA chair Flora Mutahi attributed counterfeiting to branding and trademark manipulation, mis-spelling of names and colouring.
Mutahi disclosed that the government has seized counterfeit goods worth Ksh8.5 billion in the last six months.
She stated the country loses an estimated Ksh200 billion annually due to trade in counterfeit products.
“Kenya is indeed ahead of its counterparts in the fight against counterfeits but manned land borders open the country to illicit trade,” remarked ACA chief executive Elema Halake.
