KAM blames policy gaps for mitumba influx in the country

After the Star highlighted the struggles of Kenya’s cotton, textile and apparel industry, manufacturers in the country have now come out to blame policy gaps and illicit trade of stifling the sector’s growth.

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) now says the 2024 Tax Amendment Act has tilted the scale in favour of second-hand clothes (mitumba) over locally produced textiles.

This is by among others, exempting Import Declaration Fees (IDF), Railway Development Levy (RDL) and VAT on second-hand clothing.

While second-hand clothing provides affordable options for many Kenyans, the manufacturing sector lobby group says this policy shift raises critical concerns among them unfair competition.

Speaking yesterday during the second edition of ‘Kenya Fashion and Design Week, in Nairobi, KAM chief executive Tobias Alando noted that local manufacturers are heavily taxed, while second-hand imports— despite contributing significantly to landfill waste—are not subject to environmental levies.

“This creates an uneven playing field that stifles domestic production,” Alando said, noting a weakening industrial growth.

Kenya’s textile sector was once a major employer, providing more jobs than the public sector in the 1990s.

However, today, many blanket manufacturers that once repurposed second-hand clothing as raw material are shutting down or struggling to operate.

Regulatory gaps are also encouraging illicit trade, KAM has said, noting tax exemption creates loopholes that could allow other imports to be falsely declared as second-hand clothes, further undermining local industries.

“Kenya must take a strategic approach to the mitumba market. While the country needs second-hand clothing, dumping must be stopped to ensure that only legit imate second-hand clothes enter the market,” said Alando.

At the same time, the government must prioritise investment in cotton farming, textile mills, and artisan training to rebuild a globally competitive textile industry, he noted.

“The ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’ initiative should go beyond a slogan—it must become a movement that propels our industry forward,” said Alando.

According to manufacturers, the continued expansion of the second-hand clothing market could also hinder Kenya’s ability to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), compared to regional competitors with stronger textile industries.

The country’s textile and apparel industry favours the foreign markets (both for raw material imports and export of finished goods), as local value chain struggles.

According to public policy expert and the former Kenya Association of Manufacturers CEO Anthony Mwangi, Kenya is one of the global suppliers of big fashion brands in America.

Kenya is the largest exporter of garments under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme, manufacturing for big names such as H&M, Levi’s, JC Penny, Wrangler and Otto, among others.

“Despite the local sector making a mark in the global space through our apparel exports, accounting for approximately Sh51 billion, our imports remain high. This calls for the urgent need to reinvigorate the sector,” Mwangi noted. Back in the 80s and 90s, Kenya had a strong fibre to fashion industry with strong downstream developments including ginning, spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing, and garment making facilities both for the local and export markets.

Farmers stopped planting cotton in the late 90s because of poor prices from the once key cash crop and Kenya’s oldest commercial crop that fed thousands of families, choking off supply of raw materials.

The country banned mitumba in the mid-1960s to protect the local industry, eased the ban in the mid1980s to allow donations to refugees, and lifted it altogether in the early 1990s as world markets liberalised.

In 2016, the presidents of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda resolved to ban the import of mitumba from 2019 to develop their domestic industries.

Kenya however withdrew in 2017 after the US threatened to end its duty-free and quota-free exports to the American market under AGOA.

According to the United Nations, China is Kenya’s top import source for mitumbas, followed by Pakistan, Canada, the UK, the US, Poland, UAE, Germany, and India, with the Republic of Korea closing the top ten list.

KAM has called for the enforcement of local content policies that prioritise Kenyan-made fashion in retail and government procurement, sustainable manufacturing through incentives for green production, improved access to financing for SMEs and development of trade policies that open export opportunities for Kenyan brands.