Ruto sets three-year target to end shoe imports

Leather products from the country on display. [Courtesy]

President William Ruto has set a two-to-three-year target for Kenya to stop importing shoes as the government pushes for greater use of locally produced leather.

Speaking at the Agriculture and Food Security town hall, Ruto said the country should transform its livestock resources into finished products, creating employment and retaining more money within the economy.

“I want to assure you that…in the next two to three years, we will not be importing shoes from anywhere,” he said.

Ruto said the government was waiting for local manufacturers to improve the quality of their fotwear before Kenya could fully embrace locally made products.

“I’m just waiting for the manufacturers to improve on their quality,” he said.

He said eight companies were already using Kenyan leather to manufacture products locally, signalling what he described as progress in the leather industry.

The President also singled out footwear for security personnel as an area where Kenya could replace imports with locally manufactured products.

“For all our uniformed officers, all the boots that we are importing from China, and I don’t know where, we want to make them here,” Ruto said.

The push forms part of the government’s broader value-addition strategy, aimed at moving Kenya away from exporting raw agricultural commodities while importing finished goods.