By Lillian Onyango, DevReporter, Nairobi County
I found myself at the famous Gikomba market yet again, but this time round not to ask about the mysterious burning of the market, but to ask about the possible ban of ‘Mitumba’ second-hand clothes in favour of locally made clothes.
You must have heard about Azimio la Umoja’s presidential aspirant’s manifesto about reviving textile industry. He proposes that to achieve this agenda, he will ban second-hand clothes should he become the president.
“In textile manufacturing, there is going to be backward and forward integration. We will re-introduce cotton growing in large numbers in our country. Our textile industry was killed through liberalization and then they brought mitumba.” Said Raila Odinga during the launch of his manifesto.
A trader who only identified himself as Ezra, is a broker at Gikomba and gladly gave his thoughts
“That is the worst thing they can do us. When I heard him say that it was easy for me to join the dots. I mean, the reason why Gikomba keeps burning and why we were always told to relocate to another build market. This has been the plan all along,” Ezra said.
I kept walking and talking to more people. It was really hard getting their views as most of the traders were not willing to talk.
They cite security reasons and lack of interest in politics as some of the reasons they refused to talk.
I met a buyer who said that many people depended on mitumba and pleaded with the government not to ban them.
“Banning of mitumba is like promoting insecurity and theft in Kenya as it takes away people’s jobs. What will they do to earn a living? You can’t make them sell new clothes because some traders are selling those as well,” said Agnes Nasimiyu, a mitumba seller.
What about you? What do you think about the possible ban of second-hand clothes?
