Kenya Tanneries Association Chairman Speaks on Their Challenges
My name is Robert Njoka, the chairman of Kenya Tanneries Association, the challenges we have in this industry is whereby the government doesn’t put the proper policies for the industry.
One thing you find that this is an industry which carries a lot of job creation, number two it’s an industry economically if you look at the bottom up economic agenda, they have identified the leather industry as one of the key pillar of the economy.
So if it is true they want to match the industry with their statement, they need to listen to the stakeholders and get the right direction to take the industry.
Our biggest challenge is one: You find like the latest financial bill, where we took almost two days to defend our proposals, none of our proposals was incorporated in the Finance Bill, I don’t know where they got the recommendations from.
As you have heard the CS say that whatever they factored it was from stakeholders. I’m a Charmain. I defended the industry on finance bill, so where did they get the other report from? So whatever they factored in the finance bill it’s their own making and it does not reflect our interests and our recommendations in the leather industry.
They need to convene a stakeholders meeting, they get from the grassroot what is good for the industry because the government cannot set the interests of the industry excluding the stakeholders because they will be setting for who? So they should take time to listen to the stakeholders so that we can have the right position and the right direction for the industry