Governor Jack Ranguma has reiterate that Kisumu will not allow the importation of fish from China to the lakeside city.
Ranguma recently said the decision by the central government to allow fish imports from China was a huge undoing to the fishing industry which, supports majority of the residents in Kisumu.
He said President Uhuru Kenyatta should impose a 100 percent ban on Asian fish imports.
There has been growing concern from the lakeside county that importation of fish form China into the country was slowly killing the local fishing sector.
The governor stated that there was no logical rationale for allowing importation of fish, an act that is already distorting the local fish market and increasing unemployment, poverty and inequality in the economies of counties like Kisumu that have traditionally depended on the fish industry.
Noting that fishing is an important economic activity to fishing communities and a major source of livelihood in counties like Kisumu where it supports about 80,000 people directly, the governor challenged the State to protect the sector from exploitation.
He explained that Chinese fish importation into Kenya was a proof that while the country had hoped to earn foreign currency from exports by fish processing firms, the country is actually losing foreign currency.
Residents of Kisumu say Chinese fish was cheap and was out-competing the locally caught aquatic products.
It is however, not clear whether the government will support the Mr Ranguma's proposal bearing in mind that Kenya, currently faces a shortage of fish in the market.
The government, besides, China also imports fish from South Africa to cushion the shortage periodically experienced in the domestic market.