Kisumu residents shopping for mitumba clothes at Kibuye market. [Photo/nation.co.ke]
Industrialization Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed has said that the government does not intend to ban second hand clothes, popularly known as ‘mitumba’.
Mohamed said the government was simply working to revive and make competitive, Kenya’s textile industry.
He was speaking on the side-lines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China.
And if the mitumba trade falls casualty to the market forces, Mohamed said, then so be it.
“Our desire is to develop and promote our textile industry to create more jobs for people in the country and through the transition of market forces, we would like mitumbas to compete with new clothes produced within East Africa, within Kenya and if those products are much more competitive and much more consumer friendly, of course you will see a reduction in the mitumba business in the country.”
He therefore described as unfounded, a petition to a US group that deals in mitumba, to the US trade representative.