Kenya Cracks Down on Foreign Traders as Ruto Reserves Retail for Citizens

Walk through Nairobi's Eastleigh market or Mombasa's Marikiti and you will find traders from China, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Somalia and beyond selling everything from imported fabrics to electronics. President Ruto has now put those traders on notice.

In a directive issued to the Interior Ministry and the Business Registration Service, Ruto ordered enforcement of existing legal provisions that reserve small-scale business activities — including hawking, retail kiosks, market stalls and courier services — for Kenyan citizens. Foreign nationals found operating in these categories would face deportation after a transition period, he said.

"Foreign investment is welcome — we want it, we encourage it, we are building infrastructure to attract it. But small business is for the Kenyan mama, the Kenyan youth, the Kenyan hustler," Ruto told business leaders at the American Chamber of Commerce summit in Nairobi, drawing applause from the Kenyan private sector representatives in the audience.

Al Jazeera, which covered the announcement prominently, noted that the move was the most explicit presidential endorsement of economic nationalism Kenya has seen in recent years, and that it comes in a politically charged pre-election environment where Ruto needs to demonstrate economic wins for ordinary Kenyans.

The reaction from foreign trader communities was predictably alarmed. Somali traders in Eastleigh, who have built a billion-shilling wholesale textile business over decades, fear that the line between wholesale (permitted) and retail (to be restricted) will be drawn in ways that disrupt legitimate businesses. Ethiopian community leaders issued a statement calling for dialogue before enforcement begins.

Constitutional lawyers noted that the directive, while politically popular, must be implemented in a way that respects EAC treaty obligations — which provide for the free movement of goods and some labour within the bloc — as well as bilateral investment protection agreements Kenya has signed with several countries whose nationals are affected.