By LUKE ANAMI

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Kenyan manufacturers say the three-day political demonstrations called by the Opposition leader Raila Odinga have cost them some $ 42.3 million (Ksh6 billion) in business losses.

In a briefing on Friday, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) said they have suffered the most along the Northern Corridor as movement of goods has been delayed.

KAM Chairman Rajan Shah said the Northern Corridor was the hardest hit as transport on most parts of the highway were paralysed in the past two days from Wednesday.

Read: Kenya’s on-off protests push transporters to the edge

“Our manufacturing sector contribution to the Kenyan economy stands at about 1 trillion shillings as per the Economic Survey 2023. This translates to approximately Ksh2.86 billion ($20.2 million) daily in value addition,” said Shah.

“Therefore, the country stands to lose up to Ksh2.86 billion ($20.2million) daily if the protests continue to disrupt businesses as we have witnessed in the last two weeks.”

The continuous demonstrations have also severely disrupted the logistics and supply chain networks essential for the smooth flow of manufactured products to the end consumers.

Since Wednesday July 19 when the demonstrations began, the manufacturers may have lost close to between $40.3 million (Ksh5.72 billion) and $42.3m (Ksh6.billion) and still counting more losses on the third day whose value of losses was yet to be determined by the time of going to the press.

“These disruptions have hampered the ability to transport raw materials and finished goods thereby affecting the entire manufacturing process, leading to delays and increased costs,” said Shah.

“The major impact is the flow of goods on transportation. So, the supply of goods is impacted. Goods coming in from Tanzania and Uganda, especially the agriculture produce, if this sustains for long then it will actually hamper the flow of goods across the border and within our border.”

Small scale traders who import mainly foodstuffs mainly onions, tomatoes, beans and maize across the Namanga -Tanzania-Kenya border, and Malaba-Uganda-Kenya border were heavily affected during the riots that lasted more than 2 days.

Read: Dar gains from Kenya riots as region on edge

“Many of the produce is for our local need as well such as maize which we import from both Uganda and Tanzania. If you get interruption in that maize supply chain, then we will have our millers affected and then the availability of flour will be affected. So, it has an immediate impact first directly on our own economy and on our own produce and consumers at large.”

Investors rely heavily on a stable political and social environment that assures the safety of their investments whilst guaranteeing that business operations will not be disrupted. 

Kenya’s reputation as an attractive investment hub is at risk following these demonstrations.

“With an ambitious plan to grow the manufacturing sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) threefold from the current 7.8 percent to 20 percent by 2030, we are concerned that this may not be achievable at the current trend,” said Shah who was accompanied by KAM board members, Mucai Kunyiha, former KAM chairman and Mary-Ann Musangi, CEO HACO industries.

Read: Kenya trims 2023 economy growth to 5.8pc

“We (HACO business) are in the East African Community, mainly in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC, Sudan, Somali and Zambia. This will affect our market because one, our people (staff) are not able to get to their places of work to manufacture,” said Ms Musangi.

“The entire time 'maandamano' (protests) was on, we had to shut down our factory. This will obviously reduce the products that we are supposed to sell in these markets. Secondly our roads have a problem to drive from Nairobi to Uganda. So, our products are not able to get out to this market.”