National Assembly Trade and Cooperative Committee has rejected a proposal by the State Department of Industry to move textile manufacturer Rivatex Ltd from Eldoret to Naivasha.
The committee, however, made a proposal to the State Department of Industry to work towards establishing a branch of the textile company in Naivasha as part of its expansion programme.
"Your proposal to move Rivatex to Naivasha is unacceptable. We want to see proposals by the department on the expansion of the company and open a branch in Naivasha and other towns,” the committee vice chair Marianne Kitanny said.
State Department for Industry PS Eusebius Mukhwana while appearing before the committee on Wednesday tabled a proposal to move the firm from Eldoret to Naivasha.
Upon rejection of the proposal by the committee, Mukhwana committed to present the committee’s concerns to the Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria for consideration and action.
The committee was informed that the proposed budget cuts, for instance in the State Department of Trade will harm the bilateral and multilateral engagements, ongoing Kenya-UK and Kenya-USA trade negotiations and commercial representation in foreign missions among others.
State Department of Investment Promotion PS Abubakar Hassan Abubakar appealed to the Trade Committee to consider allocations for the Special Economic Zone which has no allocation and Export Processing Zone, which is faced with budgetary cuts.
Committee chair James Mwangi Gakuya urged the State Department's presence, to ensure that government-owned industries flourish like privately owned ones.
The Committee will engage the State Departments for MSMES and Cooperatives on Thursday.
