The debate on whether to ban the importation of second–hand clothes has captured the attention of Nakuru residents, who proudly claim to be the highest consumers of the clothes.
The Chairman of the Mitumba sellers’ Association, John Ngure ridiculed the numerous attempts by the government to ban the importation of second-hand clothes and said the poor can’t afford new clothes and even the well-off might not like the unstylish new clothes.
However, the Managing Director of Bedi Industries, Jaswinder Bedi, which was established in the town before independence, and employed thousands of workers said, ‘‘buy Kenya build Kenya’’ is the fastest model to revive the local economy.
He said it was ridiculous to keep on spending 197.5 billion on second-hand clothes and allow the unemployment levels to keep on soaring when the country has the capacity of reviving the textile industries and creating millions of jobs.
Bedi said their industry was the second largest employer, after the Pyrethrum Board in Nakuru town, up to the early 1990s. But, the influx of cheap second-hand clothes led to the retrenchment of thousands of employees.
He said the Bedi industries have a capacity of employing over twenty thousand workers in one year and gradually increase the numbers if only business in second-hand clothes were to be banned.
Also, he dismissed claims that local textile industries lack the capacity of making fashionable and trendy clothes, adding that they are contracted to make clothes for the designer labels, such as St. Michael in the UK, which end up coming back as ‘mitumbas.’
Ngure concurred with the Managing Director of the Bedi industries that they employed numerous workers, and the scaling down of workers has contributed to joblessness in the county.
However, he said the county’s residents are used to purchasing shirts at sh.50 and it would be difficult to convince them to buy, a more expensive shirt, just because it is locally manufactured in the name of proof of patriotism.
The chairman said the children born in the 1990s in the county have grown up in mitumba clothes right from birth to school uniforms and even the official clothes for those employed.
