Foreign hawkers backlash: Have we accepted our place?

Kenya‘s medium and small-scale traders clapped when they heard foreign hawkers would not be allowed to operate in Kenya. They had paid a visit to State House.

The headline in one of the dailies as they clapped was: "Central Bank approves Nedbank buyout of NCBA Group.” Remember 15 per cent of Safaricom has already been snapped up? And KQ is looking for a strategic investor (most likely foreign).

Clearly, we have no problem with foreign investors. We believe they create jobs but forget they also make money. We could ask loudly why we can’t make that money ourselves. Why do we think others are better than us?

I shall keep quoting the late Njeri Rionge, one of the founders of Wananchi Online, the pioneer internet service provider (ISP). As a guest speaker at Strathmore Business School, she asked MBA students why they can’t make the money foreign investors will make.

She had made the money herself and reminded the MBA students with pride that she had no degree. May she RIP.  

Why don’t we want foreign hawkers, the small-scale traders?  While it’s true they undercut the established entrepreneurs by not paying rent and other costs, they shorten the supply chain and fill a gap in the market. That is why their prices are low. Why don’t we complain about low prices?

Let us accept that they also do the work we dislike; who has ever shared a business card with the title “hawker” 

The backlash against foreign hawkers, their legal status apart, is a good diversion from joblessness and low economic growth, scapegoating. It also raises a disturbing issue: our low expectations. Why do we believe the small jobs are for us, but big jobs are for others? Rarely do we raise issues over expatriates or foreign investors who make more money than hawkers. We seem to know and love “our place.” 

Does this explain why we own few transnational firms like Amazon, Toyota or Airbus? Why can we also be immigrants or foreigners and invest and work abroad like Dangote? On average, immigrants tend to be more entrepreneurial than locals. That is why they are seen as an economic asset, not a liability.

Let’s be real.  Hawking goes beyond merchandise to labour and services. Foreigners hawk services like construction work, tea picking and child-rearing. They also clean cars and cut our hair.

These are jobs we dislike or think they are beneath us.

Yet we are complaining about joblessness.  In my remote village, whose location will remain secret for security reasons, getting someone to do such simple things like farm work is so hard.

We want money but not work. Why not welcome those willing to work? Who should we blame for our hatred of work? Schooling? Parenting? Why do we love American movies and names but not the Protestant work ethic?

Let us also be bold; we hawk our labour in the Middle East, Europe, the United States (US) and other countries. Should these countries also ban our hawking?

Do we support the backlash against foreigners in South Africa, the US and Europe? Foreigners are willing to be paid less and work longer. Citizens benefit from lower prices; one of the highest costs of production is labour.

Foreigners in Kenya and beyond accept low pay because they would be jobless or get even lower pay from countries they come from. A good example is the US, where the minimum pay is $7.25 per hour. If you work eight hours a day, you make Sh7,540 a day.

Think of that for a jobless Kenyan. In addition, foreigners tend to be more motivated and productive with the lower pay, another gain for the country.

Their socio-economic circumstances often force them to accept such low pay; think of immigrants from unstable countries. Once assimilated, they start behaving like “anyone else.”

That is why continued immigration is good for an economy. We used to work very hard as immigrants from rural areas in the city. With time, we learnt to work “smart.”

Let's think about economics. We should celebrate the presence of foreigners; they indicate our economy is better than where they come from!  Such immigrants tend to be a self - selected group: ambitious, risk-takers, and talented. They are behind some of America's biggest firms, from Nvidia to Google, Amazon, Intel, Apple and SpaceX.

Should we be harnessing the creative genius of foreign hawkers or immigrants, or chasing them away? Am I too sympathetic to foreigners?  Maybe, having lived as one in the US Deep South. Closer to home, I am writing this article because a Ugandan 'intellectual hawker' taught me English in high school. And out of curiosity, are we discriminating against fellow Africans?

Can anyone convince me there are no hawkers from non-African countries in Kenya? They may not be selling merchandise.

One neighbouring country reserves the “small jobs” for her citizens.  Did I hear there is a bill on that in Kenya? Doesn’t the EAC allow free movement of labour? The big jobs and enterprises are for whom?  One wishes we looked at foreign hawkers or immigrants through an economic, not political, lens. Should I add that hawkers or foreigners could also enrich the genetic pool?