This archive report was first published on 1 July 2020.
Kenya's Trade and Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary, Betty Maina, has announced that the government is exploring ways to resume the importation of second-hand clothes without compromising the health and safety of Kenyans.
According to a report by Business Daily on July 1, 2020, the ministry has tasked the Kenya Bureau of Statistics with investigating the lifting of the import ban, which was imposed in March after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the country.
Ms. Maina stated that her ministry had received appeals from sector players to reinstitute the importation, citing the significant impact of the ban on thousands of people and their families.
"The Mitumba guys have appealed, and we have said that we need to work together to develop protocols for dealing with used clothes in the context of the pandemic," she said.
A technical committee has been set up, comprising officials from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), to determine whether the virus will have subsided by the time the imported second-hand clothes arrive in the country.
Kebs Managing Director, Bernard Njiraini, confirmed that the easing of trade in countries where mitumba originates from had made it easier to inspect whether proper hygiene is being exercised to curb the spread of the virus.
"Now that other areas are slowly opening up, such activities like inspection are possible. We had to first stop importation to protect Kenyans," he stated.
The state banned the importation of second-hand clothes to safeguard Kenyans' health and promote the local textile industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the move caused intense reactions from a section of members of Parliament, led by Dan Maanzo and Otiende Amollo, who suggested that the clothes should be disinfected when brought into the country.
According to Business Daily, demand for Mitumba clothes in 2019 topped Ksh17 billion, and Ksh16.9 billion in 2018.
