Arguments for the promotion of Protectionism

Previously we decried the practice of agribusiness and extolled the merits of peasant farming as the viable way forward towards food self sufficiency. This article was prompted by a recent news item in the BBC. The article talked about the Kenyan flower growers facing sales leveling-off in the export sector this winter season. The ensuing effect has been the scaling back of labor.
Our position is that we should not be engaged in cultivating cash crops for export to the detriment of growing food to feed the nation. This leads us to recommend an enforceable policy of protectionism to regulate what we export and to safeguard infant industries.
This edict would entail a drastic reformulation of our trade policies including rethinking our foreign trade agreements.
What is protectionism?
Protectionism is the policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect, from global competition, home industries from overseas competition. This in turn would lead to the growth of local industries, the growth of jobs and a better living standard for the citizens due to money being spent and reinvested locally.
Benefits of protectionism:
• Protects infant industries: When industries are just beginning, it makes sense to protect them from the perils of foreign competition at first, until the industry grows and matures. At that time the protection can be lifted and the mature company will be competitive.
• Raises government revenue: Government revenue increases since the Kenya government collects the tariff revenue. This revenue could be used to fund social welfare programs.
• Stricter enforcement of labor and environmental laws: With government monitoring, workers will be paid a fair living wage. Ground and air pollution laws will be enforced and those companies violating will be subject to fines and mandatory cleanup.
• Restricts market flooding of sub-standard wares: The government could establish a quality bureau to inspect all foreign made goods being imported into the country. The operating principle would be ‘we should not import it if we can make it’. An example would be the ‘mitumba industry’. The local market is flooded with used clothing from abroad yet we can make clothing here at home by supporting the cotton growers and the textile industry. An option would even be the growing of hemp for the textile industry.
Drawbacks
Initially the Kenyan consumer will pay higher prices for locally manufactured products because the production process will not be as efficient and will be fraught with errors as the learning curve grows.
Going forward:
• As workers become more experienced and efficient, prices will drop. The government will ease tariffs and producers will then be able to compete with foreign made products. If there is a surplus in production, it may be exported to neighboring countries thereby bringing in foreign revenue.
• There will be an increase in the availability of jobs in the manufacturing and agricultural sector. This will in turn stimulate the local economy due to workers spending more on other services.
• With an experienced workforce, they may then in turn train interns so skills are perpetuated generationally. The skilled workforce may also be able to apply their skills to other areas of the industrial economy.
• We would have to partition the huge tracts of idle land to give to citizens willing to work it. They would in turn pay land rent as the only form of taxation. We would not tax their produce. This would lead to a decent living wage for the people.
• To finance the budding industries, we will set up community banks to serve localities. They would service loans to individuals or co-operatives to undertake these ventures.
• As different regions specialize in the manufacture of different products, a limited barter system could be adopted for trade. Neighboring regions that do not produce could become processors.
Conclusion.
This article is purposefully rudimentary to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. We admit it calls for drastic changes in the way we run the economy but it needs to be done if we are to emerge from the economic doldrums that has perpetually engulfed the nation.
We will call on Kenya’s learned economists and other professionals for planning and implementation.
Full disclosure: The opinions expressed in this and other preceding articles will form the basis of a political grass roots movement that will be seeking the mandate of the Kenyan people in the general elections of 2017. We believe in presenting solutions with substance to issues affecting fellow Kenyans instead of the empty rhetoric and the petty quibbles that are the hallmark of those presently in power.