The industry contributes more than 0.6 percent of Kenya’s exports, making the blanket ban a bad policy move.
The regulations have not been sufficient to deter vendors from destroying infrastructure through vandalism.
Due to the importance of the sector in job creation, the government should move fast to have measures to effectively police the sourcing, trade, and export of scrap metal.
The government should fast track enactment of regulations to operationalise the Scrap Metal Act to secure the infrastructure and cushion traders from huge losses tied to the recent ban.
The industry contributes more than 0.6 percent of Kenya’s exports, making the blanket ban a bad policy move. Statistics show an industry reeling in crisis as it seeks to meet a huge demand to feed the local as well as the international markets.
The regulations have not been sufficient to deter vendors from destroying infrastructure through vandalism. Early this year, and in an unprecedented move, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a moratorium on scrap metal trade to seek how to address the menace in the sector characterised by vandalism of key public installations.
Due to the importance of the sector in job creation, the government should move fast to have measures to effectively police the sourcing, trade, and export of scrap metal and deal with those culpable of vandalising State infrastructure.
Kenya Railways and Kenya Power #ticker:KPLC have suffered the most, spending up to Sh3 billion a year to replace vandalised materials.
On lifting the ban, the government must involve industry stakeholders. In a welcome move, the government has announced that all scrap metal dealers will have to seek fresh licensing.
The fresh licensing directive is among the new regulations that have been proposed to control the sector, before the lifting of the ban ordered early this year.
In 2015, the National Assembly enacted the Scrap Metal Act to regulate trade. Seven years later, the law is yet to take effect. This Act was meant to provide guidelines on vetting and licensing traders in the business.
Among other things, it requires scrap metal dealers to keep track of the source of their metal in a bid to guard against vandalism.
Most dealers in the sector are not licensed, making it hard for authorities to hold players accountable for losses in the country’s strategic investments. Only 20 scrap metal dealers are officially licensed in Kenya.
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