{"id":5695,"date":"2026-09-02T14:50:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/?p=5695"},"modified":"2026-09-02T14:50:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:50:50","slug":"ruto-takes-aim-at-chinese-hawkers-kenyans-must-come-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/?p=5695","title":{"rendered":"RUTO TAKES AIM AT CHINESE HAWKERS: \u201cKENYANS MUST COME FIRST!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>RUTO TAKES AIM AT CHINESE HAWKERS: \u201cKENYANS MUST COME FIRST!\u201d<\/strong><\/h1>\n<pre><strong>By Jeff Kizzilah Digital Editor\u00a0<\/strong><\/pre>\n<p><strong>President William Ruto has issued a strong warning over the involvement of foreign nationals in Kenya\u2019s small-scale retail and informal trading sector, insisting that Kenyan businesses must be protected from unfair competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-5.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5697\" src=\"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-5-300x207.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-5-300x207.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/livenation254.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-5.jpeg 588w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ruto said the government will not allow foreigners to take over opportunities that should be available to Kenyan traders, particularly in the informal economy.<\/p>\n<p>The remarks have sparked debate over the presence of Chinese nationals operating small businesses and engaging in street-level trading in Kenya.<\/p>\n<p>The President\u2019s position is expected to fuel renewed discussions about work permits, business licensing and enforcement of regulations governing foreign nationals conducting business in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters argue that stronger enforcement would create more opportunities for Kenyan youth and small traders, while critics are likely to question how such measures would be implemented without unfairly targeting particular nationalities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The message from State House is clear: Kenyan traders should not be pushed out of their own market.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RUTO TAKES AIM AT CHINESE HAWKERS: \u201cKENYANS MUST COME FIRST!\u201d By Jeff Kizzilah Digital Editor\u00a0 President William Ruto has issued a strong warning over the&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-latest-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5698,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5695\/revisions\/5698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}