Ruto, on Wednesday, said the government would shut down foreigners engaged in small-scale trade, arguing that such businesses should be reserved for Kenyan citizens. The directive targets hawkers and small retail shop operators, not large-scale foreign investors.
At a meeting with Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise traders at State House in Nairobi, Ruto said, “We have not improved investor confidence for hawkers to come to Kenya.” The distinction he drew was between foreign capital that creates jobs and foreign nationals doing street-level trade.
“As a government, we cannot allow people to come from China and set up shops here selling the same products that MSME traders sell. I will ask for a brief on this, and if there are Chinese-owned shops, we will close them down,” Ruto said.
Ruto did not give a detailed list of the businesses covered or explain how enforcement will be carried out. That gap leaves the practical scope of the crackdown unclear, particularly for foreign nationals operating in mixed-use commercial areas outside Nairobi’s Central Business District.
The Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry has been directed to begin administrative action against foreign nationals engaged in businesses the government considers reserved for Kenyan citizens. No statement from the ministry confirming a plan had been issued at the time of publication.
Ruto said the Local Content Bill, 2025, proposes that “there should be businesses that foreigners should not do here in Kenya, by law.” The bill is sponsored by Laikipia Woman Representative Jane Kagiri, while National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah and Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui have been named in connection with further changes to the proposed legislation.
Ruto directed Ichung’wah and Kinyanjui to expedite the passage of the bill, which seeks to create a statutory framework that explicitly bars foreign nationals from entering designated informal and small-scale business sectors.
Beyond hawking and small retail, the bill carries wider implications for foreign companies already operating in Kenya. The proposed Local Content Bill, 2025, seeks to restrict foreign dominance in certain economic sectors. Under the bill’s provisions, at least 80 percent of employees in foreign companies, including workers in senior management and chief executive positions, would be required to be Kenyan citizens, according to the Sahara Reporters summary of the legislation.
Reacting to the announcement, former Mukurweini MP Kabando wa Kabando accused Ruto of using the issue of foreign traders to fuel tension between Kenyans and citizens of neighboring countries, saying Kenyans themselves live and work across East Africa and beyond.
Kabando wrote, “Kenyans are all over Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and even Boston and New York, earning a living from all shades of jobs.” He said the focus should remain on creating opportunity for citizens without creating hostility toward foreigners, according to People Daily.
The directive was framed officially as a domestic measure to protect Kenyan entrepreneurs, though concerns over foreign traders competing with local hawkers and small businesses had previously been raised in Nairobi.
Ruto said Kenya’s economic stabilization efforts, including lowering inflation, stabilizing the exchange rate, and rebuilding investor confidence, were designed to attract genuine investors who create jobs and contribute to the economy. Small-scale foreign traders, he said, fell outside that category.
In January 2025, the Nairobi County Government had already restricted hawking along walkways and major streets in the Central Business District, allowing traders to operate only in designated backstreets and lanes, according to the Sahara Reporters report. The national directive, announced at the State House meeting, goes further, targeting the foreign trader category directly regardless of location.
No timeline has been given for Parliament to pass the Local Content Bill, 2025, meaning the September 7 crackdown on foreign small businesses would proceed on executive directive alone, without the statutory backing Ruto said the legislation
