Garissa traders call for unified business permit to ease licensing burden
The traders, said numerous licenses were a burden to the traders and were a major obstacle to economic growth.
The business community in Garissa have raised concerns about numerous government business permits by the National and County governments, saying it was a burden to traders.
Speaking during a public participation exercise on the Draft Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) policy 2025 and the Proposed Amendments on the MSE ACT 2012, the traders called for a unified Business Permit which consolidates various licenses.
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Abdiwahid Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Garissa branch, who spoke on behalf of the traders, said numerous licenses were a burden to the traders and were a major obstacle to economic growth.
"We have one single government yet demanding a lot of permits and licenses. All this money collected is going to the National Treasury, why compel traders to pay for this money instead of supporting them to have a favourable business environment," he asked.
Abdiwahid called for the need of a draft policy to address streamlining the business registration and create a unified business permit.
He said traders were keeping a pile of permits and licenses in their shops, terming it unfair.
Mohamed Hassan, a trader in Garissa, also expressed concern about the numerous permits and business registrations that traders were paying to the two levels of government.
Others who spoke called for consideration of including representatives from the Boda boda sector, Jua Kali sector and Mama Mboga to the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA) board of directors.
Inclusivity
Mose Samuel said the boda boda, Jua Kali and Mama mboga are active players in the MSMEs sector and the economic growth of the country, adding that their inclusion was a priority.
"You cannot talk of MSMEs development and at the same time ignore them having representation in the board of directors. The draft should be revisited and their involvement and active role should be well stipulated," he said.
He also proposed that the office term limit of the Chief Executive Officer be five years and not 10 years as suggested in the draft.
"Keeping government officials to serve in office for a long period is abetting corruption. The term of office needs to be five years and not renewable," he suggested.
Ben Marangu raised concerns about draft regulations of the composition of members, indicating that at least 10 people were eligible to form a self-help group.
"For you to form a self-help group or community-based organisation at least you need to have 35 members, as a rule we knew before. Ten members are not enough to form a self-help group since the officials managing the group are more than 10 individuals," he said, calling for a review.
MSEA Acting Director for Strategy and Planning, Raynold Njue, who responded to issues raised by members of the public, expressed concern about the numerous permits and licenses traders were subjected to.
"We have instances where you pay cess in your county and you are subjected to pay for the same goods once you cross to the neighbouring county, it's costly and burdensome to traders, the draft policy will address some of these concerns to spur economic growth," he said.
He assured the stakeholders that trade barriers and inter-counties restrictions will be addressed by the draft policy.
He added that the lengthy process of issuing permits and licenses will be addressed once the document is ratified.
Evans Oyaro, the deputy director of monitoring and evaluation Uwezo Fund, who also responded to the inclusion of the boda boda, Jua Kali and Mama Mboga into the board of directors, said the draft was not specific on which particular group of MSMEs sector were to be nominated for the board membership, but in general, the sector will have their representatives in the board.
He said it was upon the Cabinet Secretary to appoint a representative from the sector who would represent them all.
The members of the public were educated on the draft policy before providing their feedback.
Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo, who officially opened the public participation four,m challenged traders in Garissa to explore various business enterprises that will enhance economic growth and create job opportunities.
He urged traders to learn more and benefit from the County Aggregation and Industrial Parks projects by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, in partnership with county governments.
The state Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development launched the nationwide public participation exercise on the draft MSME policy 2025 and proposed amendments to the MSE Act 2012 in Nairobi last week.
The public engagement forum seeks to gather feedback from the stakeholders across the country to help shape an inclusive and responsive policy and legal framework for the MSME sector.
It's also expected to promote innovation and build capacity to improve MSME competitiveness locally and internationally.
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