Scrap Metal Dealers Demonstrate Against Ban On Sector
Scrap metal traders from all over the country staged a protest on Tuesday, urging the government to remove the ban on their industry.
Lydia Kadima 
Irshad Sumra, Secretary General of the Kenya Iron and Scrap Metal Association (KISMA), said during the protest in Nairobi that despite the traders obeying the rules, nothing has changed.
“It is so unfortunate that despite agreeing on the regulations nothing is moving. Our manufacturers and scrap metal dealers are truly suffering and incurring huge losses,” Sumra said.
At the start of the year on January 20 President Uhuru Kenyatta announced an indefinite ban on the trading in scrap metals as part of the government's attempts to combat escalating incidences of destruction of critical public infrastructure.
The prohibition intended to last until the government put in place legislation to regulate scrap metal sourcing, trade, and export.
Last month, the state imposed a new set of restrictions on the industry, requiring dealers to apply for new licenses and register with corporate organizations in order to allow for self-regulation.
Licensed dealers, millers, and smelters would pay Sh250,000 in annual fees, agents will pay Sh150,000, and jua kali 'collectors' will pay Sh50,000 under the new legislation.
Sumra urged the president to intervene, citing the Trade Ministry's and the Scrap Metal Council's slowness in getting the firm up and running.
He claimed they had held three meetings with the ministry to discuss and approve the regulations in order to break the impasse, but to no avail.
“We are asking the president to intervene. We are tired of waiting on the Ministry of Trade and Scrap Metal Council for action.”
“We have been to the Ministry of Trade and Industry three times. We have been discussing and have agreed and approved the regulations, which were drafted by the Scrap Metal Council but it seems nothing is happening,” the KIMSA secretary general said.
