Social media rants won't grow economy, Industry PS fires back

Energy PS Juma Mukhwana and Kenya Bureau of Standards MD Esther Ngari during the World Metrology Day in Nairobi on May 20,2025. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

You might rant all you want online about the state of the Kenyan economy, but as long as you are not buying locally made products, your views will not amount to much. 

This is the message by Industry Principal Secretary Juma Mukhwana, who said while the government is not averse to criticism, Kenyans need to play their part in growing local enterprises through buying locally-made products. 

He noted that the social media activism would not do much in reducing the cost of living.

Buying locally made products, the PS said, was a way to create jobs for Kenyans while retaining money in the Kenyan economy, uplifting the livelihoods of many Kenyans and with time reducing the cost of living.

“I see us on social media very active, talking about the cost of living. How do you discuss the cost of living when you use all the money that you earn… to import everything that you use?

“I assure you that if we continue to import everything, we can talk about the cost of living, what the government can do and even how bad the government is… but there is nowhere we are going,” Mukhwana said yesterday in Nairobi as Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) marked World Metrology Day.

“We have done well in the digital space. But if all your work is to get some money and import goods, we are lying to ourselves on that discussion about the cost of living.”

In 2024, Kenyans spent Sh2.7 trillion to import different products, some of which can be produced locally.

Production in Kenya is costly, however, bogged down by such factors as high taxes and high cost of electricity, which has seen many firms shut or scale down operations and move to business-friendly destinations and instead import ready made goods for sale locally. 

The hurdles that industries in the country face have seen the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product – which is the value of all goods produced in Kenya over a year, has shrunk to 7.3 per cent in 2024 from 7.7 in 2022 and from over 11 per cent a decade ago.

This is despite the sector holding promise for employment and wealth creation.

Mukhwana challenged government employees to play the role of enablers for small enterprises to facilitate their growth into large enterprises. “Use the public space, the opportunity that the government has given you not to stifle, kill or antagonise but to promote the little that there is that we can grow into large industries,” he said. The World Metrology Day commemorates the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875, which established a global framework for measurement standards.

Metrology is the science of measurement, a field fundamental to ensuring accuracy, safety  and reliability across all sectors.

Kebs Managing Director Esther Ngari noted that metrology is crucial to unlocking  Kenya’s manufacturing potential and achieving the goals of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

She emphasised the need to shift the national mindset from being import-reliant to producing locally.

“We must leverage metrology and standards to support the growth of SMEs, enable young entrepreneurs, and develop local manufacturing industries—from avocado oil extraction to pharmaceutical equipment,” Ngari said.

“Our focus should be on creating employment opportunities for youth and building an economy grounded in innovation and self-reliance.”

Dr. Hermogene Nsengimana, secretary general of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), also urged different players in the standard field to look into how they could produce the equipment used in their labs locally.

He noted that in some instances, imported test methods might not always be suitable to guarantee consumer safety for products that are uniquely produced in Africa.

“When you look at the equipment that we have in our laboratories, how many spare parts do we purchase from Africa? How many do we produce? Even screws? We should not just embrace without looking at the whole supply chain.

“This equipment is expensive and we continue depending on other countries even for maintenance,” he said.

“The test methods that we also use to test our products are default to other markets. We should also not just pick methods.. . We should have a process in our laboratories that look at products and consider the local context when analysing them.

“Our scientists and researchers should have methods for testing products produced locally.”