Posted on February, 20, 2019 at 08:31 am
Reuben Mwambingu
Trade Cabinet secretary Peter Munya was grilled by MPs on why farm products from Uganda have continued to flood the Kenyan market.
Appearing before Trade departmental committee Munya (pictured) was accused of failing to protect Kenyan farmers and traders by allowing influx of the imports.
Members of the committee pointed out that milk and eggs from Uganda have continued to alarmingly flood the market in huge quantities and retail in local market at cheaper prices than Kenyan produce.
Led by committee chairman Kanini Kega and his vice Cornelly Serem, the legislators were concerned that if the trend continues, local milk and egg industries will collapse.
“There has been continued inflow of milk from Uganda in large quantities. Every day dozens of litres of milk enter the country from Uganda. Our market is no longer safe with the crates of eggs crossing from Uganda at very cheap prices. If we are not careful the industry will collapse,” said Serem. The committee demanded to know what the CS was doing to avoid the collapse.
But Munya argued that it is impossible to block influx of products from Uganda given that the East African Community(EAC) Common Market Protocol allows free trade within the partner states. The CS observed that cost of production in Uganda is lower compared to Kenya because of high cost of electricity.
“Uganda is part of the common market. So long as the products are produced within the precincts of the partner states, we can do nothing about it. That’s the policy and we can’t stop it. We have a lot of investments in Uganda too and we cannot risk,” Munya told the committee in Mombasa on Friday.
The MPs sought answers as to why Kenya has not enjoyed the same comfort of doing business in Tanzania as Uganda enjoys in Kenya, but it has instead been on seemingly frosty trade ties with Tanzania.
In response, Munya said the government has been in constant talks with Tanzania to allow free trade in accordance with EAC trade policy.
Source: MediaMax Network