Recent studies show that Kenya is now Africa’s largest importer of second-hand clothes, commonly known as mitumba.

This suggests that the government could have lost huge revenues due to misinvoicing – a deliberate falsification of the value or volume of an international commercial transaction to evade taxes. For second-hand clothes in Kenya, this often means under-invoicing to reduce import duties.

Latest Data by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that Kenya imported used clothes and textiles valued at Sh38.5 billion ($298 million) in 2023, overtaking Nigeria. In the same period, Kenya had one of the largest trade deficits in second-hand trade. In 2023, the leading exporters of used clothing were the United States, $1.09 billion (Sh140.61 billion), China, $736 million (Sh94.94 billion), and Germany, $391 million (Sh46.92 billion).