Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Thursday, January 26, announced plans to review policies concerning the business of selling textbooks in Kenyan schools.
In a statement on Thursday, Kuria revealed that his Ministry was pursuing a partnership with the Ministry of Education to review the policies and save legitimate businesses from suppression.
While referring to his earlier stance on school uniforms businesses, Kuria affirmed that he was aware of a trend where schools dictate specific bookshops and the type of books parents are required to buy with the skewed motive of benefitting a few individuals.
He noted that some policies adopted by schools cut out the involvement of small businesses in the trade of books.
The CS has since vowed to weed out cartels from the business, noting that it was in line with the Kenya Kwanza administration's mantra of supporting businesses at the bottom of the pyramid scheme through bottom-up economics.
“We agreed with Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu (Education) that we will review our textbook policy again not because of the content but because of the structure that is encouraging cartels at the expense of businesses at the bottom of the pyramid," he noted.
This is a bottom-up government and we need to get used to that. My role is to ensure that the opportunities we have in the economy actually cascaded to the bottom of the pyramid.
His statement came days after another declaration of the government's intention to liberalise the school uniforms trade by abolishing the dictates of schools requiring parents to buy uniforms from specific vendors.
"Our schools have got no business selling uniforms. Parents have got absolute freedom and discretion on where to buy school uniforms. Our teachers need to focus on academia," he stated.
On Tuesday, January 24, CS Kuria also announced that the Trade Ministry was working in conjunction with the Ministry of Education to revamp struggling public universities.
Kuria, in his address to the press, banked on privatisation to help bring struggling institutions in the education sector to life through investor funding while at the same time enhancing their efficiency.
Kuria spoke during the inaugural month briefing on the government's strategies for reviving the economy. He noted that his ministry will work with other ministries to actualize his plan in the department of trade.
