KENYA GOVERNMENT DESTROYS US$3.2 MILLION FAKE GOODS

The Kenyan government has destroyed up to $3.2 million’s worth of counterfeit goods and illicit products as part of its effort to fight the rising trade of fakes in the country.

Enforcement officers seized the goods across the country. The most affected items were electronics, cables, pharmaceuticals and mobile handsets.

According to Kenya’s Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA), fakes worth $8.7 million have been seized in the past four years, and hundreds of arrests have been made across the country.

“As a result, we have ongoing court cases involving goods worth $3 million,” said John Akoten, the acting chief executive at ACA.

Last year, a study by the ACA showed that counterfeits cost Kenya’s economy $0.76 billion, including $0.21 billion in lost revenue.

Adan Mohammed, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, said the destruction is part of the government’s efforts to pursue importers of counterfeit and illicit goods and grow the economy.

“We are talking to the judiciary and urging it to look at counterfeiting as a unique and dangerous crime,” he said.

The East African