Esther Passaris, a Nairobi women rep hopeful, has emphasized that mitumba are garments worn by the deceased.
She confirmed that it is true that some of the second-hand clothing items belonged to deceased individuals in an interview on Wednesday, July 20.
Passaris clarified that most of the time, donated clothing is sent to Africa, and she also mentioned that her family would be donating some of his late father’s clothing.
Passaris denied allegations that ODM leader Raila Odinga is opposed to the common trade.
She claimed that the only thing Raila is requesting is a balance between mitumba and clothing produced by Kenyan businesses.
The lawmaker argued that it is regrettable that even Kenyan traders must discard entire bales of low-quality mitumba.
“The fact is we want to have a balance. Baba is not against the mitumba industry. Baba is saying we need to balance the two and it is a shame we get such poor quality mitumba. Even the mitumba trader wants good quality clothes,” added Passaris.
Raila on mitumba
Raila bemoaned that the importation of mitumba had destroyed the local economy when outlining his objectives for the textile manufacturing sector should he win the presidency.
In return, he promised to bring back large-scale cotton farming in the nation to handle the major manufacture of clothing.
“In textile manufacturing, here there is going to be backward and forward integration. We will re-introduce cotton growing in large numbers in our country. Our textile industry was killed through liberalisation and then they brought mitumba. Our people are only wearing mitumba, clothes that are coming outside the country, that are worn by people who are dead, “ said Raila.
