Moses Kuria under fire over China Square Closure
Investments, Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Hon. Moses Kuria for the past few days has sparked an online debate regarding the recently famous China Square. Hon. Moses Kuria ordered Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor to buy out lease for China Square. This came after local traders complained of unfair competition from the China Square owner, Cheng Lei. The owner in his statement reads MY BUSINESS IS LEGAL AND CENTERED ON HEALTHY COMPETITION”, CHINA SQUARE OWNER SAYS AS IT ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY CLOSURE.
In his recent interview, Cheng Lei said he set up his shop in Kenya on January 29, 2023 and after two weeks he was raking in Kshs 20 million. He said he studied Kenyan market and noted the products sourced from his country are overpriced here in Kenya. This gave him an idea to set up a business and import products from his country. Cheng said “The business is barely a month old. On a bad day, we sell goods worth Sh10 million,”
China Square closed temporarily citing closure of the shopping center will allow him to reevaluate and re-plan the business strategy. Trade CS HON. Moses Kuria under firm criticism from the netizens after the whole incident. Rumours has it that the owner Cheng Lei was facing deportation threats if he doesn’t engage the government on doing business.
One of the leaders who have come out to condemn the act is the former Kiambu Governor Hon. William Kabogo. In his tweet Hon Kabogo says “Kenya
is a capital economy, we can’t close china square at the pretense of protecting local retailers, in other words Kenyans buy commodities at expensive prices, who should we protect more? I purchased a cabro
brush at CS @ ksh. 400 which @ Gikomba is ksh. 950. Who’s fooling who?
Today Hon Moses Kuria has also posted on his twitter account a statement which still seems to be targeting the trader Cheng Lei. He said “There is no special skill required to sell bras and boxers in the streets of Nairobi. Kenyans can do it”. This tweet however has been deleted as the owner closes the shop indefinitely.
Another leader who has castigated Moses Kuria’s statement over closure of China Square is Belgut MP Hon. Nelson Koech. He condemned the move and termed it as backwardness and stupid to close out foreign traders. In his statement yesterday, Koech said “Investment can go anywhere. The governments job is to attract it. As soon as we start implementing the laws haphazardly or to suit a certain narrative, we totally lose our competitive advantage.”
Majority of Kenyans do not seem to conform with the move by CS Kuria to close down China Square.
