Leadership wrangles at trade lobby complicate marketing of Kenya

Leadership wrangles within the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) are frustrating efforts to market the country to investors, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula said on Monday.

He said though such private sector driven bodies had helped to boost economic investment in some countries such as Germany, the KNCCI had failed to do so owing to power struggles within its leadership.

“When you look at most developed nations it is their respective chambers of commerce that court private sector investments. Unfortunately for us the local chamber of commerce has become known for nothing but year-round wrangles,” the minister said when he addressed a trade and investment delegation from Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mr Wetang’ula said the government only played a “facilitation role” in marketing and promoting opportunities in the country and urged private sectors and the KNCCI to take up a more active position.

“If you as a chamber put your act together then you’d get to play a bigger role in attracting investments,” the minister challenged the KNCCI deputy CEO,Stephen Mbugua, who was present at the event.

The KNCCI has, for close to a decade, been bogged with back-to-back management feuds that often resulted in lengthy court cases as different factions battled to gain control of the organisation.

This has put pressure on government agencies such as the Kenya Investment Authority (KIA), Brand Kenya, Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) and the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) to market and promotes the country as an investment destination as well as seek markets for products and services.

Mr Wetang’ula said the government was keen on driving up business ties with the UAE which he noted had since become one of the fastest growing foreign labour markets for Kenyan workers.

He said statistics showed that the UAE hosted 35,000 Kenyan workers, both skilled and non-skilled, while the value of trade between it and Kenya hit the Sh1.3 billion mark as at last year.

Dubai is fast becoming an important transshipment for Kenya and other East African countries that are turning attention to Far East countries such as China for business and economic partnership ties.

Dubai has also become important on the radar screens of tea producing countries such as Kenya because of the Dubai Tea Trade Centre (DTTC) that was put up in 2006 which serves as an important hub for trade in the commodity.

Tea imports

The Middle East and adjacent regions account for approximately 25 per cent of global tea imports and Dubai is already an important regional centre for tea value adding and transshipment.

“The potential is still huge if you look at simple facts such as 30 flights a week between Nairobi and Dubai and that the UAE takes up about 3.4 per cent of our tourism market share,” Mr Wetang’ula said.

The minister said the government would soon open a new consulate in Dubai to help cater for the growing number Kenyans moving to work and stay in the region.