Mitumba dealers hail tax move

Traders in second hand clothes and shoes have lauded the government’s move to reduce import duty. The traders from Nairobi's Gikomba market said that this will ease the cost of trade and make the items affordable. “When
the money had been increased, some people were forced out of this
business. At times, KRA money was more than what we had used to import
the containers,” said Regina Njuki an importer.

She however
said that they are still facing problems because the order is effective
from July 1 yet some of them have not cleared their containers from the
port of Mombasa. “The failure by some of us to take our
containers led to KRA auctioning them. We suffered loses and appeal to
them not to auction our remaining containers,” she said. Kamukunji
MP Yusuf Hassan said the mitumba trade should not be the blamed for the
collapse of the local textile industry since there were many other
factors.