Ruto orders crackdown on foreigners operating small shops, hawking
Ruto orders crackdown on foreigners operating small shops, hawking
President William Ruto has ordered a crackdown on foreigners operating small businesses in Kenya, directing that the exercise begin on Monday, September 7.
Speaking on Wednesday, September 2, the president said the government would shut down foreigners engaged in small-scale trade, arguing that such businesses should be reserved for Kenyans.
Ruto directed the government to begin the crackdown, saying, “From next week, all traders doing those small businesses should close them.”
“We have made efforts to improve the economy… We have not improved investor confidence for hawkers to come to Kenya,” Ruto told Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) traders during a meeting at State House.
The president also called for the acceleration of the Local Content Bill, 2025, which seeks to increase Kenyan participation in businesses and economic activities currently dominated by foreign firms.
Ruto directed National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah and Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui to work on the bill and accelerate its passage through Parliament.
According to Ruto, the proposed law will identify businesses that should be reserved exclusively for Kenyan citizens.
“We have a bill in Parliament on Trade. In that bill (Local Content Bill, 2025), we have proposed that there should be businesses that foreigners should not do here in Kenya, by law,” he said.
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Ruto said foreigners should not be allowed to engage in hawking or operate small retail shops in the country.
“It cannot be that a person comes from China or elsewhere to be a hawker or open a small shop,” he said.
The Local Content Bill, 2025, proposes that foreign firms ensure at least 80 per cent of their workforce consists of Kenyan citizens, including employees in senior management and C-suite positions such as chief executive officers.
The bill also proposes that foreign companies procure at least 60 per cent of their goods and services from local Kenyan sources.
For agriculture-related manufacturing, the proposed legislation requires companies to source 100 per cent of their agricultural produce locally.
The 60 per cent local content requirement would also apply to specific service industries, including financial, insurance, construction, transport, warehousing, logistics and security services.
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