State Department for Trade Holds a Multi-Agency Workshop to Combat Illicit Trade

The State Department for Trade, with support from TradeMark Africa, is convening a four-day multi-agency workshop in Nairobi to explore practical and effective approaches to combating illicit trade in Kenya.

The workshop seeks to strengthen Kenya’s response to illicit trade by identifying and recommending strategic interventions and developing a costed work plan covering the period from the third quarter of the 2025/26 financial year to the fourth quarter of the 2026/27 financial year to guide implementation.

Speaking during the official opening of the workshop, the Acting Director for Internal Trade, Elizabeth Miguda, noted that illicit trade continues to undermine Kenya’s development agenda by pushing out legitimate businesses and denying the Government much-needed tax revenue needed to fund public services and infrastructure.

Miguda observed that illicit trade creates unfair competition, slows industrial growth and innovation, leads to job losses, and exposes consumers to serious health and safety risks due to its unregulated nature.

She further reiterated the Government’s commitment to addressing the challenge through coordinated national and regional efforts, as it seeks to accelerate industrialization and expand access to regional and continental markets under frameworks such as the EAC, COMESA and the AfCFTA.