The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has dismissed as untrue reports it has revised the levy on second-hand clothes commonly referred to as mitumba.
In a statement, the agency said the rate for worn items of clothing is 35 percent of the customs value which is the price of consignment, freight and insurance fee or 0.2 per kilogram.
“Through the East Africa Community Gazette Vol - AT - 1 - NO - 14 published on June 30, 2022, the rates have been in effect since July 1, 2022,” a statement from the acting commissioner of customs and border control reads.
The current rate is Sh24.35 per kilogram.
It adds, “These rates have been uploaded in the Customs systems including iCMS, accessible by all registered clearing agents”.
The reports that circulated on social media Tuesday under the hashtag Kg to Ksh stated that the taxman had increased the levy from Sh24.35 per kg of first-grade mitumba to Sh109.58.
The debate over mitumba comes at a time Trade cabinet secretary Moses Kuria has been advocating for the support for locally manufactured clothes through the Buy Kenya, Build Kenya initiative which he argued is cheaper.
He ruled out plans to ban its importation noting Kenyans should have free will of buying clothes, either mitumba or locally manufactured.
The bulk of mitumba imports to Kenya comes from the US and Europe.
China, Germany and UAE have lately become the new markets with total imports to the country rising from Sh10 billion to Sh18 billion in the last five years.
“The whole conversation is if I make mitumba have a lesser value proposition, and I make locally manufactured clothes to be competitive. I don’t believe in banning things, I believe in making the other product less competitive,” he said on November 3, 2022.