China's omnipresence in Kenya turns sour

Many Kenyan businesses feel that Chinese owned companies receive preferential treatment and are able to operate with fewer regulations and lower costs, disadvantaging their local equivalents.

- ANTONIA FILMER

The recent protests in Nairobi against the superstore China Square have highlighted Kenya’s dichotomy between dependency and foreign investment. China Square is a giant Chinese goods supermarket in the Unicity Mall owned by the University of Kenya. It was opened at the end of January and reportedly its taking seven on a bad day were US$77,000. Hundreds of local tradesmen and retailers who were selling similarly sourced Chinese products accused China Square of stealing their business through an unfair advantage, they held a protest resulting in China Square being temporarily closed.

Cabinet Secretary for Trade Moses Kuria suggested that China Square and Chinese investment had made unhealthy competition for entrepreneurs and small-scale traders. Many Kenyan businesses feel that Chinese-owned companies receive preferential treatment and are able to operate with fewer regulations and lower costs, disadvantaging their local equivalents.
The Chinese Embassy in Kenya issued a statement hoping for practical cooperation from the Kenyan government.

MrCheng Lei, the proprietor of China Square appeared before the Kenyan Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives to explain China Square’s business model. He assured the Committee that China Square was transparent in its dealings and had no intention of harming local businesses. He said he believed in healthy competition for the benefit of all business stakeholders and called on co-existence with other businesses; China Square was reopened after a week of closure.