AGOA KENYA TKO-ED
The announcement of the extension by the US Congress of African Growth Opportunity Act – AGOA to 2013 is food for retrospection and prospection. In 2003 during a meet the voter gathering I told my MP cum Assistant Minister that the 500,000 jobs could be easily created by taking advantage of AGOA. The fixed gaze he gave me convinced me he had digested my crazy story. I expected he would pass on the message to the powers that be. Four years down the line I can only think of Kenya being TKO-ed out of AGOA. We continue to deal with 67(stand to be corrected) Textile and Clothing items when AGOA has provision for over between 3000-6000 items. What a lost opportunity ! Any correlation between this and the ranking of the Ministry of Trade and Industry as the 7th worst performer? And the little we are doing we seem to be doing it badly.After four years of growth, Kenya's textile and clothing sales to the US fell from $272 million in 2004 to $267 million last year because of increased global competition from more efficient Asian producers.Other impediments include the pre-shipment inspection system that the Kenya Bureau of Standards introduced last year. I hope someone will take advantage of this new window.