Mitumba imports bad for local textile industry

The growth in second-hand clothes import volumes in Kenya by a third in the second quarter of the year is a damning indictment of a country that is unable to clothe itself 60 years after independence.

The country once had a thriving cotton sector and a labour force good enough to produce clothes for the US market.

The rising demand is a pointer that consumers consider these second-hand imports a more affordable option than locally made apparel, despite the depreciation of the shilling that has ideally made imports more expensive. Granted, these imports support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the popular markets, but the country is losing out on an even wider opportunity to create employment from local production, be it from large-scale or cottage clothes industries.

The argument that this would render the traders jobless is unfounded, since nothing stops them from retailing locally made products.

This, however, calls for policies supporting local producers, especially geared towards cutting costs—taxes and energy—that would make local clothes competitive against imports in terms of cost.