Trade Union Body Urges Kenya’s Ruto to Ensure Lawful, Non-Discriminatory Action on Foreign Traders
The African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) has called on the Kenyan government to ensure that any measures addressing the country’s economic challenges remain lawful, proportionate and non-discriminatory, warning against scapegoating African migrant traders for structural economic problems.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Joel Odigie, ITUC-Africa expressed concern over recent remarks by Kenyan President William Ruto regarding foreign nationals engaged in small-scale trade within the country. On September 2, Ruto directed action against foreign nationals involved in hawking and certain categories of small business, arguing that such activities should be reserved for Kenyan citizens, a directive the organisation said had generated considerable anxiety within migrant communities. According to ITUC-Africa, economic hardship should not be attributed to nationality, with migrant workers and African traders warning against becoming what the statement described as convenient scapegoats for deeper structural problems including unemployment, inequality, informality and inadequate social protection systems.
The organisation also raised concerns over what Ruto’s statement could signal for Africa’s broader continental integration agenda, pointing to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is built around the ambition of creating a single African market, facilitating freer movement of people, increasing intra-African trade, and building a more integrated and prosperous continent. ITUC-Africa noted that Ruto himself has previously argued that AfCFTA-related policies should make it easier, not harder, for micro, small and medium enterprises to participate in cross-border trade, and cautioned that rhetoric encouraging Africans to view one another primarily as economic threats runs contrary to that Pan-African ambition.
The directive has already had visible effects on the ground, with reports indicating hundreds of Burundian nationals crowded outside their embassy in Nairobi in the days following the announcement, seeking travel documents amid fears of harassment or violence tied to the crackdown on foreign-run small businesses. Ruto has sought to draw a distinction between the foreign direct investment Kenya continues to welcome and small-scale foreign trading activity he argues competes unfairly with Kenyan citizens, previously stating that investor confidence built by the country was intended for investors, not traders and hawkers. In response to the backlash, the Kenyan government has offered undocumented East African nationals a 90-day window to regularise their immigration status, maintaining that the broader policy is focused on enforcing existing immigration and business regulations rather than expelling foreigners outright.
The directive has also drawn criticism from within Kenya’s domestic political opposition, with former Chief Justice David Maraga and People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua both accusing the Ruto administration of using foreign traders as scapegoats for the country’s economic difficulties. Maraga specifically argued that the enforcement exercise, which began on September 7, rests on a presidential directive rather than enacted legislation, questioning whether such an announcement can lawfully override Kenya’s constitutional and regional treaty obligations.
Supporters of the policy, meanwhile, argue that Kenya is simply enforcing existing rules and protecting citizens from unfair competition in low-capital, informal sectors such as roadside food sales and hawking, restrictions some analysts note are common elsewhere in the region. Critics have pointed to South Africa’s experience with anti-foreigner sentiment and vigilante action against migrant-owned businesses as a cautionary example of how such tensions can escalate if left unaddressed.
With Kenya’s next general election just under a year away, the dispute over foreign traders has increasingly become entangled with the country’s domestic political landscape, even as regional analysts and organisations including ITUC-Africa continue to warn of the potential consequences for East African Community integration and Kenya’s own citizens and traders operating in other African countries, should the current tensions continue to escalate.
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