Kenya’s President William Ruto has ordered a crackdown on foreigners operating small-scale businesses, saying local traders and hawkers need to be protected.
His announcement comes amid growing debate about the increasing number of African migrants involved in Kenya’s vast informal economy.
“From next week, all [foreign] traders doing those small businesses should close them,” he said, also promising to fast-track proposed legislation to preclude foreigners from certain areas of trade.
Ruto said Kenya remained open to foreign investment, but argued that investors – including Chinese traders – should create jobs and expand production rather than compete with Kenyans in small businesses.
“It cannot be that a person comes from China or elsewhere to be a hawker or open a small shop,” he said in an address to small-scale traders who had come to meet the president at State House in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday afternoon.
“We have made efforts to improve the economy, we have not improved investor confidence for hawkers to come to Kenya,” said Ruto, who plans to seek a second term in election next year.
It is unclear how many foreign nationals are involved in small-scale trading or how many would be affected by the new crackdown.
Kenya hosts a large refugee population, some of whom live and work outside the country’s refugee camps.
Government figures show that Kenya had about 857,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers by the end of June, with nearly 14% living in urban areas.
Kenyan law recognises the right of refugees to work and operate businesses, although they are required to obtain the appropriate documentation. Refugees wishing to work or engage in a trade or business can apply for a special permit.
In Nairobi and other major towns, migrants from the region can be found working in barber shops and salons, construction, operating motorbike taxis and street vending, as well as selling clothes, food and household goods.
Some have fled conflicts or economic hardship at home, while others have moved to Kenya in search of better opportunities under the relatively free movement of people allowed within the East African Community, a regional bloc made up of eight countries.
The growing presence of foreigners has at times caused tensions with local traders and workers who accuse them of competing for scarce jobs and business opportunities.
In July, a video of a Kenyan man confronting a Burundian trader in Nairobi and accusing him of taking opportunities from locals sparked widespread criticism.
The clash also prompted Fred Ngoga, an expert on regional conflict prevention from Burundi, to appeal for the protection of his country’s citizens.
“The majority of Kenyans are decent and good people who welcome their brothers and sisters from Burundi,” he said at the time, adding that most Kenyans had rejected the hostility directed at the trader.
Kenya’s foreign ministry also sought to reassure Burundians and other East Africans living in the country following the incident.
While Ruto’s latest move is likely to prove controversial given Kenya’s status as regional economic hub, it also comes amid wider concerns about xenophobia elsewhere in Africa.
This year South Africa has seen a wave of protests about undocumented migrants – and tens of thousands of Africans there have opted to be repatriated voluntarily, some saying they have been the targets of intimidation and attacks.
