Fake goods take 40pc market share

Manufacturers are losing 40 per cent of the market share to illicit trade.

Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) Chief Executive Elema Halake said the proliferation of counterfeit goods is threatening realisation of the Big Four Agenda.

Agricultural inputs, electronics and foodstuffs are the most affected goods, as greedy counterfeiters take advantage of lax enforcement of regulations to distribute fakes in the country.

Speaking in Meru during a sensitisation event, Mr Halake said a staggering 30 per cent of alcoholic drinks in the market are counterfeit.

He said counterfeit agricultural inputs that include fertiliser and pesticides remain a threat to food security.

“Meru is a very strategic area for us. The production of tea and milk and other agricultural products is negatively affected by counterfeit seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and other inputs,” said Halake.

“The housing sector is also affected by counterfeit electrical goods, cement and other materials. That is (one of) the reasons we see collapsing buildings.”

ACA has identified undesignated border points as some of the major hotspots that unscrupulous dealers use to sneak goods into the country.

“Some of the counterfeits are also manufactured here,” said Halake, who was accompanied by the agency’s Public Awareness Manager Agnes Kariungu.

The CEO said with Kenya occupying a strategic trading position because of the port in Mombasa and international airports, it was vulnerable to those who deal in illicit trade.

To curb the manufacturing, distribution and entry of such goods into the market, various agencies developed the National Action Plan to Combat Illicit Trade 2019/2022.