Kisumu East MP Shakeel Shabbir has criticised Kenya’s slow transition of Jua Kali artisans into formal industrial players, warning that poor infrastructure, mismanaged industrial parks and punitive tax policies continue to stifle skilled youth across the country.
Speaking during an interview on Radio Generation on Thursday, Shabbir expressed frustration at what he described as decades of unfulfilled promises to support small-scale welders, fabricators, mechanics and other Jua Kali artisans. He said that, unlike countries such as India and China, where informal artisans grew into medium and eventually full industrial enterprises, Kenya has failed to create a path for upward mobility.
“In India and China, this Jua Kali went from Jua Kali to what we call medium industries, and then they went into big industries,” he said. “But here, from the Jua Kali, it hasn’t moved to the second sector.”
Shabbir lamented that key industrial stations meant to train and grow local artisans never developed the necessary infrastructure. Using Kisumu as an example, he said some industrial parks were taken over by private interests rather than serving their intended purpose.
“The industrial parks they had, like the one in Kisumu, were taken over by Asian young men and others. They called themselves farm industries. They were basically just two young engineers,” he noted.
He argued that artisans should have been trained in advanced skills—“from simple welding to arc welding to fabrication”—to enable them to compete in modern manufacturing.
However, he said ineffective government programmes and misplaced priorities left most of them stuck at the same level for decades.
According to the MP, credit access remains one of the biggest obstacles. He said the government should extend credit not as cash loans but directly through subsidized steel, affordable electricity and accessible raw materials.
“You cannot work on a Jua Kali economy and give credit to be paid after six or twelve months. It’s a day-to-day economy,” he warned.
Shabbir also criticised the tax system, saying small artisans have long been subjected to unfair assessments. “They go around asking how many windows you make in a month and then lump you with an income tax return. That’s not right,” he said.
He argued that small manufacturers should be given tax exemptions or tailored reliefs that help them grow rather than punish them.
Despite government promises to promote local manufacturing of doors, windows and other metal works, Shabbir said he had “not seen it happening,” insisting that policies continue to benefit the wrong groups.
He urged the state to overhaul its industrialisation strategy to ensure genuine artisans—“the welders, the fabricators, the mechanics, some of the best I’ve seen”—finally receive the tools, training and market access needed to scale into medium-level industries.
