A section of small-scale traders in Nairobi are accusing the Kenya Kwanza government of not protecting their interests and introducing new taxes which are destroying their businesses at a time when Kenya’s economy is on its knees.
The traders are also not amused with how the Ministry of Trade handled the China Square Unicity Mall debacle which they say is putting them out of business, considering the mega mall along Thika Road was reopened without any major decision by the government to protect Kenyan traders from what they term as the Chinese Invasion.
In yet another attempt to collect more taxes from the small traders, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) announced last week it will start opening containers to compute taxes item by item in a shift that will hit small traders who import in a pool and were paying taxes per kilogram.
The move will hurt small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nyamakima, Gikomba, Eastleigh, and Kamukunji who do import their goods in consolidated forms, cutting the high cost of importation.
