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Banning of mitumba importation ill-advised

People buy second-hand clothes in Kisii’s Daraja Mbili market. [File, Standard]

Second-hand clothing, fondly known to Kenyans as mitumba, found its way into the country in the 1970s–then imported as duty free charity. Following market liberalisation in the 1990s, the trade evolved into a commercialised business. 

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