Kenya’s mitumba dealers push for setting up of re-export facilities
Jane Wamuyu, a mitumba wholesaler at Gikomba in Nairobi. Traders have been fighting to prove the economic importance and relevance of the trade. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NMG
Dealers in second-hand clothes (mitumba) in Kenya want the government to introduce sorting centres, saying such facilities would allow the country to export clothing to high-demand markets in the US and Europe..
‘‘Sorting facilities will help realise Kenya’s goal of becoming among the leading high-value, high-wage, and high-skill economies in Africa,” said Teresia Wairimu, the chair of the Mitumba Association of Kenya, adding that, “Sorting facilities should be established in free zones, given the advantages this confers in allowing goods to enter the zone without tariffs being imposed.”
