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The government has been urged to discourage importation of goods that can be made locally to protect local production that supports the economy.

Thika Member of Parliament(MP) Patrick Wainaina says the country has rediscovered its manufacturing and discovery potential and that the government should work towards encouraging Kenyan inventors by dispiriting importation to certain goods.

The MP regretted that the influx of cheap imports in the country has been detrimental to the growth of manufacturing industry and which forms one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s big four agenda.

Speaking in Thika town, the MP who has sponsored a bill in parliament seeking to lock out cheap imports said that local production is the way to go if the country is to witness a surge in economic growth post Covid-19.

The SME Amendment Bill 2018 seeks to charge a tax that is 10 times the market price of the imports that contend unfavorably against locally manufactured products.

If it is approved by Parliament and gets the President’s assent, the bill is expected to set the stage for a major trade war with Kenya’s leading importers.

But the MP says this will be the solution to saving loss of local jobs and other opportunities for local innovators who he said end up only having ideas but the brains as washed away by sustained importation of items they could have developed.

“Am encouraging the government, let us not go back to where we were before. We need to protect our investors and developers who have brilliant ideas that can see the country develop almost everything that is imported from outside,” he said.

The first time MP wondered why Kenya, unlike other big countries such as the USA, India and Russia has allowed foreigners to take over its business operations.

He however lauded the Ministry of Industrialization for banning importation of 300 items produced locally among them oranges and toothpicks.