On Monday morning, 10th June, Kenyans on Twitter went harm over a publication by Business Daily concerning Chinese traders in Gikomba.
The business paper, reported that the Chinese traders had settled down in key informal sectors of Nairobi traders mainly Gikomba, Nyamakima and Kamukunji.
Armed with heavy pockets, the Asiatic traders have taken over the importation, wholesales and retail of the second hand clothes better known as Mitumba, posing a huge threat and unfair competition to the ingenious traders
“It is not just here, we used to distribute to other towns like Kisii and Eldoret but the Chinese have also opened shops there, where they now distribute as well. It is getting worse, stocks are moving slower and traders are getting really frustrated,” Lydia Njeri told Business Daily, whose shop is adjacent to a Chinese second-hand clothes dealer in Gikomba’s Mumbai Building.
Chinese traders with heavy financial pockets have moved from selling goods in bulk from their godowns along Mombasa road, to retail selling in areas occupied by local Kenyans such as Luthuli Avenue, Hurligham, Nyamakima, Gikomba and Kamukunji.
Some Chinese traders can barely speak English, raising eye-brows on how they operate their business in Kenya.
Already, there is tension between the locals and the Chinese in the informal sectors.
For instance, a Chinese slapped a local in Nyamakima, which led to serious brawls resulting into the damage of the Chinese shop.
