President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday morning made an impromptu visit to the Embakasi Inland container depot (ICD) to inspect the goods that were seized on suspicion of being counterfeit.
The president, who was accompanied by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and his Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, was prompted to visit the area by an outcry from the business community.
The goods that were stored at the container depot were scheduled for destruction on the basis that they failed to meet the minimum required standards set by the government.
Among the goods inspected by the president were second-hand clothes and electronics.
Along with the president and the CS was DCI boss George Kinoti and other heads of the multi-agency task force that was mandated with the job of inspecting goods in the country.
Uhuru’s visit comes after months of outcry from businessmen who import goods from China and other Asian countries.
Reports released at the beginning of May stated that in the month of April alone, counterfeit items worth over Ksh125 million were seized.
The anti-counterfeit agency announced that on May 7 at the ICD, it was able to impound fake goods worth approximately Ksh85 million.
The goods had been transported to Nairobi via the SGR from the port of Mombasa.
The authority noted that the counterfeits which have flooded the local market led to the loss of 40 percent of the market by 2018.
