President Uhuru has banned the importation of Chinese fish as part of the measures aimed at supportinf Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Speaking on Tuesday at Strathmore University during a Round Table Forum with SME traders from Nairobi, Uhuru said the Chinese fish was strangling the local market.
“I have been told about the imported fish from China. It is not possible that we import Chinese fish when our local traders are here,” he said.
Uhuru said though the Finance Bill 2018 was signed to law, stakeholders should “think outside the box on how to make the economy work especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.”
The #SMEs community, represents 75% of the country’s workforce and we need to sit down and know how we will respond to the industry. We owe it to them | #SMEconference2018 @WilliamsRuto
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) October 16, 2018
He directed the Energy CS Charles Keter to “review electricity cost for SMEs and come up with a sustainable plan to ensure the cost of power to small and medium-sized enterprises is brought down.”
The Chinese Fish Debate
In June this year, fishermen at Lake Naivasha said the foreign fish had flooded markets and called upon the government to intervene.
In 2016, former Kisumu governor Jack Ranguma told the national government to impose a 100 per cent ban on fish imports from China.
He said that there is no logical rationale for allowing the trade which has already affected the local fish market.
“It will increase unemployment, poverty and inequality in the economies of counties like Kisumu that have traditionally depended on fishing fa or livelihood,” he said.
Ranguma said more than 80,000 people are directly affected if the imports continue to flood the Kenyan market.
But the Kenya National Bureau of Standards said Kenyans will wait longer to get rid of Chinese fish from their plates in the wake of the continued decline in local catches.
KNBS states that the total value of fish landed, which has been down for three consecutive years dropped from Sh24.5 billion in 2016 to Sh23.0 billion in 2017.