Kenya has developed policy to enhance products’ quality – CS Miano

Kenya has developed a policy to guide local enterprises into entrenching sustainable quality practices to enhance their competitiveness in overseas markets.

Investments, Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano said local enterprises were facing challenges in accessing overseas markets due to the absence of a distinct and internationally recognised quality policy.

The Cabinet Secretary, while presiding over this year’s World Metrology Day commemoration in Nairobi said the Quality Policy of Kenya, would empower the country to produce internationally competitive goods.

She explained that once the policy is enacted, it would support the realization of Vision 2030 aspirations of becoming a globally competitive country that offers high-quality products to both domestic and international markets.

Miano further said the policy, which is underpinned by the motto “One measure, one standard, one accredited conformity assessment, accepted worldwide”, will promote a quality culture in the county.

She said the policy will guarantee the protection of consumer rights as per the Constitution as well as encourage industries and other organisations to adopt sustainable quality improvement practices in their day-to-day activities.

“This policy is formulated within the framework of the national long-term policy blueprint (the Kenya Vision 2030) and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), and is critical in strengthening and coordinating our quality institutions, and transforming Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs),” Miano observed.

The Cabinet Secretary, who was accompanied by the Principal Secretary State Department for Industry, Juma Mukhwana, emphasized that the basis for fair trade, high-quality products, and the development of new technologies and innovations is traceable and reliable measurements and measurement standards.

She noted that there was growing demand for accurate and reliable measurements in the modern world not only in the manufacturing sector and domains of national and international trade but also in the areas of human health and environment.

Mukhwana noted that the country was laying the groundwork for an industrial revolution through the use of standards, metrology and conformity assessment.

The World Metrology Day celebrations which brought together stakeholders in the measurements space were also addressed by the Managing Director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards Esther Ngari, and the Director of the National Metrology Institute Henry Rotich.