Kenya president orders crackdown on foreigners operating small businesses

President William Ruto has ordered foreign traders running small businesses in Kenya to close them from next week, placing the country’s large informal economy at the centre of a growing debate over migrants and local jobs.

“From next week, all foreign traders doing those small businesses should close them,” Ruto told small-scale traders at State House in Nairobi. He also said his government would fast-track legislation barring foreigners from certain areas of trade.

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From next week, all foreign traders doing those small businesses should close them.

Ruto said Kenya remained open to foreign investment, including investment from China, but argued that foreign investors should create jobs and expand production instead of competing with Kenyans as hawkers or small-shop operators. “It cannot be that a person comes from China or elsewhere to be a hawker or open a small shop,” he said.

The number of foreign nationals involved in small-scale trading, and the number who could be affected, is unclear. Kenya hosts about 857,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, according to government figures, with nearly 14% living in urban areas. Kenyan law allows refugees to work and operate businesses if they obtain the required documentation and special permits.

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It cannot be that a person comes from China or elsewhere to be a hawker or open a small shop.

Migrants from across the region work in barber shops, salons, construction, motorcycle taxis and street vending in Nairobi and other major towns. They also sell clothes, food and household goods. Some fled conflict or economic hardship, while others moved under the relatively free movement permitted within the eight-member East African Community.

Local traders and workers have sometimes accused foreign residents of competing for scarce jobs and business opportunities. Ruto’s announcement comes as Kenya’s foreign ministry has sought to reassure Burundians and other East Africans living in the country. It is also likely to draw controversy because Kenya is a regional economic hub and tensions over foreigners’ economic roles are rising elsewhere in Africa.

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We have made efforts to improve the economy, we have not improved investor confidence for hawkers to come to Kenya.