By Rodgers Wagura
Worth Noting:
- He said instead of making such announcement, the CS should have invited all the stakeholders in the trade and sought their views before making it public.
- He added that this is not the bottom up the government they voted for was promising them.
- The chairman also noted that the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had uttered such words during his campaign period and this may have led to many people not voting for him.
- Charles Waiganjo a trader in mitumba sector said that the sector employs a lot of people and its cheap and easy to start.
Mitumba traders in Nyeri town are up in arms over utterances made by the newly appointed Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria the government intends to ban importation of the commodity.
The traders chairman in Kamukunji Clothes Market Bernard Wairagu said that halting the trade of Mitumba cloths will lead to loss of jobs by thousands of business people who rely on it.
The chairman said over 700 traders in the market was opposed to the move by the new administration terming the decision as uncalled for and a misguided direction of addressing the issue.
He said instead of making such announcement, the CS should have invited all the stakeholders in the trade and sought their views before making it public.
He added that this is not the bottom up the government they voted for was promising them.
The chairman also noted that the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had uttered such words during his campaign period and this may have led to many people not voting for him.
Charles Waiganjo a trader in mitumba sector said that the sector employs a lot of people and its cheap and easy to start.
He urged the government to find another way to promote the textile industry in the country and not abolishing the mitumba sector.
He also noted that the Kenya Kwanza Government is against the bottom up as its trying to kill small scale traders.
Another trader Margaret Wanjiku noted that the mitumba business has been her source of livelihood and if she can stop it she has nowhere to look upon.
She said that she has no faith in Kenya Kwanza Government since it’s trying to kill her only source of income and this is where she gets fees to educate her children and even feed them.
She added that before people used to wear torn clothes but since mitumba was introduced everyone is neat since it’s cheap and affordable to everyone.
Rahab Wanjiru also a trader said that she received the news with great shock and she is wondering where they will go.
She said that she voted for UDA as they were in full support of hustlers but now they are against them as small scale traders in the mitumba market.
She also noted that the textile business and new clothes trade requires big capital unlike mitumba business where one can easily start with a capital of like Sh10,000.
