9.0 TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

The Democratic Party of Kenya recognizes the fact that economic growth of Kenya can only be accelerated through efficient and effective trade and industrial policies. The policies must take into account the fact that we are in a global village that has many players all trying to sell goods and services. Kenya has therefore to be competitive to attract both traders and investors. The globalization of the World economies has had its benefits to those countries that have finished products to sell. Kenya and other African countries are currently engaged in negotiations with the European Union on modalities of opening their imports to European Union Exporters without paying duties. The same reciprocal arrangements would be done for Kenya goods entering the European Union market.

Trade and industry contributes greatly to GDP, employment and foreign exchange earnings as well as poverty reduction. It is recognized that the sector in trade that creates most employment is the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) due to the fact that the cost of creating jobs in the SMEs is low when compared to the formal sector.

There are however a number of constraints that hinder the expansion of the trade and industrial sector including high cost of energy; many taxes; overdependence on primary commodity exports (in most cases in form of raw materials); over reliance on traditional markets; poor quality products, barriers erected by the developed countries against finished goods from the developing countries; subsidies given to the manufacturers in the developed countries; lack of credit especially to the small and medium enterprises; lack of adequate incentives to the investors, and high cost of capital among others.

The Democratic Party of Kenya Government being aware of the above challenges shall take the following steps:

1. Establish a rural enterprise industrial programme

2. Create investment incentives aimed at attracting local and foreign investors.

3. Continue negotiations with the economic groupings like the European Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC) to ensure the Country reaps the greatest benefit from the groupings;

4. Restrict export of raw materials;

5. Encourage value addition to export products;

6. Ensure foreign investors have incorporated the transfer of technology to Kenyans;

7. Build capacities in technical institutions to prepare artisans for self employment;

8. Encourage financial institutions to provide credit to Jua Kali and small enterprises through tax incentives;

9. Ensure that developed countries grant entry to manufactured goods to their markets without discriminative customs barriers;

10. Reduce the number of trading licenses and internal administrative impediments;

11. Provide incentives for manufacturers in rural areas

12. Use our foreign missions to market Kenyan goods and services including tourism

13. Build the capacity of the Kenya Investment Authority(KIA) to market Kenya as an investment friendly Country;

14. Diversify the range of exportable products and market segment;

15. Ensure that Kenyan products are of high quality in accordance with the international standards and that they meet the Sanitary and Phytosanitary regulations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO);

16. Ensure traceability requirements for our horticultural and livestock products to the European Union are observed through the creation of capacities in the accredited institutions;

17. Revive the cotton industry to ensure that Kenya’s textile industry benefits from the AGOA;

18. Organize trade fairs in collaboration with the private sector to market Kenyan goods;

19. Build capacities at the Kenya Institute of Business Training (KIBT) to train businessmen;

20. Build capacities of Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and the Export Promotion Council (EPC) to equip them to Promote Kenya products;

21. Commercialize the research finding by the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) and other research institutes;

22. Develop the necessary infrastructure for promotion of trade and industry;

23. Develop post harvest technology, processing, preservation, storage and utilization of the core products;

24. Develop manufacturing technologies and methods;

25. Encourage production of component parts for the industry;

26. Promote Jua Kali and Small Scale Enterprises by removing all constraints that hinder their growth;

27. Promote Sub-contracting Exchange between the small and large industries;

28. Ensure that Government procurements have a preferential treatment for products of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs);

29. Use effectively Kenya’s diplomatic missions to gather intelligence information on foreign markets and seek favourable trading arrangement;

30. Create regulated linkages between industries, tertiary institutions and universities.