Wiper Patriotic Front leader Kalonzo Musyoka has publicly called out President William Ruto’s administration over its ongoing operation against foreign nationals engaged in small-scale trading and hawking across the country, terming the crackdown a “manufactured crisis” lacking strategy and governance.
Speaking via a statement released on Monday, the former Vice President accused the government of using the enforcement drive to project power rather than solve the underlying economic pressures facing local business owners.
Kalonzo warned that executing a “crackdown without strategy” risks stoking diplomatic fallout and escalating tensions between Kenya and neighboring East African nations. He noted that the rushed policy had caused widespread panic, forcing affected foreign traders—particularly Burundians—to scramble for emergency travel processing outside their embassies.
According to the opposition figure, foreign traders are not the primary threat to Kenya’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Instead, he cited systemic corruption, punitive taxation, erratic government policies, and a high cost of doing business as the actual root causes stifling local hawkers and retailers.
Kalonzo demanded immediate transparency regarding how immigration authorities process affected individuals. He urged President Ruto to abandon aggressive administrative raids in favor of structured regional dialogue, rule of law, and fair trade processing.
The Wiper leader’s sharp rebuke follows President Ruto’s directive instructing trade and immigration officials to bar foreign nationals from small-scale retail and hawking to reserve those livelihoods exclusively for Kenyan citizens.
