Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani on Thursday said a list of the goods would soon be gazetted making it mandatory for public institutions to source for them from the local market.
The government will give legal backing to the ‘buy Kenya build Kenya’ initiative that has been slow to pick up as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration moves to promote local enterprises.
Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani on Thursday said a list of the goods would soon be gazetted making it mandatory for public institutions to source for them from the local market.
“To support the recovery and growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, we shall gazette and enforce the list of items for local procurement to promote the ‘buy Kenya build Kenya’ initiative,” Mr Yatani said as he presented the 2020/2021 budget in Parliament on Thursday.
This will be the first move to legalise the initiative. For years it has remained just a proposal that did not compel procuring entities to purchase goods from the local manufacturers.
The government has been pushing for 40 percent procurement of goods locally, but has been facing low compliance with President Uhuru Kenyatta last year cautioning private sector players against sabotaging the government’s policy to give priority to locally produced goods in State procurement.
Mr Yatani also announced the various measures needed to cushion locally made goods.
Materials used in assembling mobile phones, diapers and those used to manufacture masks and sanitisers will not attract duty while those importing metal, leather footwear, electrical parts as well as paper and paper board products will have to pay higher duty (35 percent) to cushion those selling the same from the local market and make them competitive.
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