How KRA loses billions to falsified mitumba invoices

A mitumba trader at a Nyeri market on 26 August, 2023. [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

Recent studies show that Kenya is now Africa’s largest importer of second-hand clothes, commonly known as mitumba.

This suggests that the government could have lost huge revenues due to misinvoicing - a deliberate falsification of the value or volume of an international commercial transaction to evade taxes. For second-hand clothes in Kenya, this often means under-invoicing to reduce import duties.