TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA The Textile and Clothing Industry in Kenya By Jacob O. Omolo 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview Poverty reduction and creation of productive and sustainable employment op­portunities has been one of the policy objectives of the Kenya Government since independence in 1963. Despite several policy interventions, Kenya is still faced with high incidences of poverty(60 percent), unemployment(14.6 percent) 1 and low economic growth rates(0.9 percent in the period 1997-2002). The Kenyan economy showed signs of recovery, registering 2.8 and 4.3 percent growths in 2003 and 2004, respectively(Republic of Kenya, 2005a). The growth in per capita income in the country has been slow at less than the average rate of growth of the population(1.9 percent per annum). Per capita income in 1982 constant prices, for example, declined from US$ 271 in 1990 to US$ 239 in 2002. The size of the working poor is also staggering comprising mainly subsistence farmers and fe­male-headed households. The average annual rate of inflation increased signifi­cantly from 2 percent recorded in 2002 to 11.6 percent in 2004, reflecting con­tinued erosion in purchasing power and declining standards of living. The poor performance of the economy has been attributed to, among others, poor socio­economic management, adoption of inappropriate policy regimes, lack of consist­ency, poor prioritisation and weak implementation of policies, lack of institu­tional capacity especially at local levels, low absorptive capacity of public institu­tions, lack of proper monitoring and evaluation system, and low levels of invest­ment. 1 Sessional Paper No. 7 of 2005 on“Employment Policy and Strategy for Kenya” defines employment in the literal economic sense as any economic activity undertaken for pay. Many labour market play­ers and stakeholders have shown strong reservations on the authenticity of the official unemployment statistics. FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG 147