The government will gradually lift its ban on scrap metal dealings starting May 1.
Industrialization Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina says from May, trading in scrap metal will be confined to only those who are duly licensed.
Undertaking scrap metal trade without licence will now cost a fine of Sh10 million for first offenders and up to to five years imprisonment for second time offenders.
"All those who applied for licences will be vekilogrammestted by the Multi-Agency teams established in each county and chaired by the the county commissioner prior to issuance of licences," Maina said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
In the new rules developed by the ministry of industrialization, licensed scrap dealers will be paid Sh250,000 for over 5,000 kilogrammes of metal.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on January 20 imposed an indefinite ban on scrap metal trade to curb increasing vandalism of key installations.
These include theft and vandalism of road barriers, guardrails, utility infrastructure, conductors, cables, copper wife, railway gauge blocks and rails, transformers and other materials.
President called it the theft "nothing less than economic sabotage, which is treasonous".
The unregulated scrap metal trade sector was dead by fiat, pending regulations.
A number of legal experts disagreed with the "treason" label. They said it's doubtful the president has the power to abruptly close an economic sector, hurting many people, without wide public participation.
