On textiles we don't need any policy, every policy is in place and worse of all our AGOA quota is largely unexploited and left to India and pakistan textile producers to exploit. Leave mitumba out of this, you sound like Kirubi. Mitumba even costs more than those chinese clothes in the shops but people go and buy mitumba - ever heard of value for money. Simple example look at your budding footballer where does he purchase boots that he can afford? you know the answer, what has this got to do with policy...look at Bata, the italian turn around MD they heard figured mitumba was not the problem because people were buying more expensive second hand shoes and leaving old fashioned bata shoes costing less on the shelf. Once Bata addressed their problem of poor uptake of their products from this angle they ended up a serious success story. Infact Bata loves second hand shoes because they provide serious market reasearch on trends and size of potential markets for their products.

@murchr, Ever taken a look at those mutumba labels? Quite few have 'Made in US/UK/Italy/France etc. They read China, , , and then some South East Asian countries.

There's a reason why the first world is dressed by the Asian countries, with quality garments.

If we strive to make quality garments locally, the costs will outweigh the benefits.
The quality that Chinese export to US/UK/Canada is not the same that comes to Africa or consumed in China.

The surest way to go is AGOA, Americans have the purchasing power to buy quality products from Kenya which very few Kenyans can afford.

The issue of mitumba clothes is more complex than it is appreciated by any lobbyist. The real threat to Kenya's textile industry is the importation of cheap sub-standard products from China and South East Asia.
The sort of clothes that fade in two months time.The shirts, the women suits [i abhor them].

As it stands, the cheap brand new imports are the greatest threat to our textile industry. Atleast mtumba brings in punitive taxes to the gov't, that cannot be said about brand new cheap imports.

Mutumba is in no direct competition with "Made in Kenya" apparel.
If your walk into any shop on Biashara Street selling baby stuff, how many items can 1,000 bob buy? How many items can that get you in Gikomba?
Use them for 3 months [from Biz street and the other from Giks] and compare the quality.
Value for money.
Same as using local contractors to do shoody job on our roads in the name of local.
What is better? Value for money or local no matter the quality?

On the flip side,a country that struggles to feed itself, is it not wiser to grow food crops, rather than cotton?
Do we import Sugar? Rice? Maize? Eggs?
Do we have mitumba sugar? rice? maize? egg?
Why do we import?
Why are the imports cheaper?
How much cotton do we need to dress Kenya? 90,000 tons on average per year?
How many people will the textiles industry employ?
How much does an EPZ employee earn now?
How much does a mtumba retailer earn now?

Let's not bite every bait thrown our way, textile industry is NOT a strategic sector and push to kill mtumba AS THINGS STAND, will be detrimental.

"I am told we are now even importing women's underwear in this country," he was quoted saying recently. "How does that happen? If you are a husband and you see your wife buying underwear from the flea market, you would have failed."

The minister added: "If I was your in-law, I would take my daughter and urge you to first put your house in order if you still want her back."

"Wearing used underwear is most dehumanising and no government worth its salt should allow its citizens to be abused to this extent.

"What nation have we become that knowingly subjects its people to humiliation and disease?

"It is inconceivable for a country to open its borders for the importation of used underwear - to allow our women to wear undergarments that other women in other countries have used and discarded."