Uhuru should ban all used spare parts. I support him

This banning of used spare parts is a blessing in disguise…it is true many will be rendered jobless, but it will spur economic growth. In the mid 90s, my father worked as a sales man at Kenya Taitex Mills (KTM) in Thika. The company used to make fabrics and garments. The mitumba came and the company went down. Others like Kikomi went down. Thousands of workers got unemployed. This is not to mention thousands of cotton workers who were lendered jobless by Mitumba

If many people were rendered jobless then, what is so wrong with rendering others jobless to go back?

You will realize, as a result of used spare parts…local companies like the tyre making (i think it is sameer), KVM in Thika for vehicle assembly, and many others have become a shadow of themselves back in the 90s. The effect of allowing the foreign market to dump their shit here is that it will kill creativity, kill local production, lead to unemployment, and make us slaves of the East and West. It is true that we cannot compete with them because of competitive advantage, and thus the only solution is to ban them

Now i will tell you where the rain started beating us

In the 1980s, Bretton Wood Institutions (read World Bank and IMF) proposed a move called Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). These were conditions for reforms so that poor and developing countries could qualify for loans. Kenya was among other STUPID countries that embraced them. Some of the demands for SAPs included

  1. Government reduce expenditure on social services like health and education to reduce deficit
  2. Government stop agricultural subsidies to reduce expenditure (Before this Rift Valley and Central were economies anchored on agriculture. At some point, Murang’a municipality was so rich that it offered Nairobi city council loans, after SAPs Murang’a went down the drain)
  3. Government to increase interest rates to attract foreign investment
  4. Government to privatize public corporations
  5. Liberalize the economies to make movement easy
  6. Devaluing of currencies

Now, the effects of this HOODWINK by the west was that many farmers could not compete with foreign imports, manufacturers were killed for lack of competitiveness, global inequality and exploitation was entrenched.

My point is this, IT WILL BE PAINFUL FOR KENYANS TO SWALLOW THESE POLICY CHANGES, BUT THEY ARE NECESSARY EVIL. We need to go back.

My problem is I DO NOT KNOW IF GATHICA IS DOING THIS WITH ALL THE CARDS ON THE TABLE.
I support the move.

@digi is @ChildishGambino

I support you the only thing I’m against is creating laws overnight and enforcing the next day ! This traders like the polythene bag producers and second hand car importers have invested alot and this laws being enforced right away will hurt alot of people the trickle down is even worse ! Such laws should take years to implement so that the don’t wreck honest business people ,People have taken loans, invested in machinery etc
Then there is zero consultation with stake holders you just learn from the 7 oclock news whatever you have been doing for years is now illegal !

The laws did not ban doing business with, it banned further importation. If you have them on your stock, or on a shipment…the government will not tell you dont sell. That is why you saw, in the polythene case, people were given 90 days.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the whole essence of imposing tariffs or banning things like 2nd hand anything is to spur the production and consumption of that product locally. If we ban Mitumba(Uhuru was too scared to do so) it should ideally lead to an increase in local products being made here and bought by locals. If we ban 2nd hand spare parts which are not made locally then everyone will be forced to buy new ones which are too expensive for most and the consequences will be felt by importers, mechanics, car owners… We import too many things that we can produce locally but we just can’t ban things overnight without a plan to immediately replace the imports.

Wizi wa magari na kuchinjwa utapungua…anyway it’s only the rich who are allowed to steal from the poor !

If you cannot afford a new spare part, you cannot just afford. If you cannot afford something, it is not a must that you must have. You can wait until you afford. The same case with mitumba…if they ban mitumba. peole will buy the new clothes.

Now the thing is, if you ban used, people will demand new. The demand will make it possible for car manufacturers (like toyota who have more than 1 million cars on out road) think it is wise to manufacture locally.

90 days is nothing in manufacturing guys had taken loans, were importing new machines ,expanding locations etc … what happens to them ? they needed at least 2 years to try and diversify get rid of the now obsolete machines , same for banning further imports these people needed time to look for other revenue streams i’m sure some had orders in the high seas .
Manufacturing in Kenya is playing Russian roulette because you don’t know what rules the govt will pull from their arses the next day , the licensing nightmare , expensive electricity etc nowonder all Kenyans do is just put up flats !

Unless the prices of the new products cost as much as the old ones or unless peoples incomes increase drastically or unless the cost of living goes down drastically then people will simply not buy things they can’t afford.

If everyone could afford new spare parts there would be no second-hand industry and Toyota would already be here.

I’m no trade or manufacturing expert so i could be wrong.

  1. Second hand spare parts have not been banned. 2. Second hand parts that have been banned are things like Tyres, Air Filters, plugs, Rack Ends…which, if you cannot buy new, you have no business owning a motor vehicle.

When you say the above are you trying to infer that there were no trained economists in Kenya who could foresee this final outcome and thus warn Moi from accepting Breton woods loans?

Hapo you’ve told quarter of the story. Moi fucked up!!

Moi personally grabbed factories and kicked certain tribes out. He destroyed patastatals … filled them with his tribesmen… Moi messed up pretty good. So usiseme ati ni Bretton Woods, ni Moi. Ni kijana yetu.

He even set about slowly murdering agriculture in Kikuyu land. Kama ni Nyanza where his other enemies resided akaua fishing pole pole starving the industry.

I disagree with you on KTM. The said factory did not go down in the 90s. It went down in the mid to late 80s. Someone I know was the receiver manager then.

True, ndio nilikuwa nataka kusema, many industries were intentionally destroyed during his time. But kuna watu huku who are nostalgic about his “leadership”

True, lets start with simple things …mitumba clothing , all govt institutions , ministries, parastatals , County govt should not import any product that has a local manufacturer.

Okay. Well said, well put. I’m sure you will sleep well tonight. I wish you happiness and peace of mind.

So yaani I can buy myself that brake system that got busted?

Upuss tupu.
Kwani ata nkinunuax japan spares sirkal haitajua.only me mech and seller.na ninaweka kwa gari.

uko mid-term?

I think yours is a one track mind. First, mitumba or second hand deals are not unique to Kenya. A simple google search will confirm this. Second, it is too simplistic to imagine that people go for mitumba out of choice. By going mitumba, it is a symptom to a deeper economic problem. How many families do you know that can afford 5k per month on new clothes for example? Or how many people do you know that can afford spending 3.5 m on a basic new car? Why is the govt charging VAT and Excise duty on new motor vehicles?

This is the problem of having a constricted mind…you only make assumptions. Who wears clothes for a month. The reason a basic car costs 3.5m is because its manufacturedabroad, is transported, and has import duty. To offset this, multinationals opt to produce in within. A locally produced car will not go above 1.5M (check mobius)