Kenya unveils new weaponry factory

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, April 8, 2021
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NAIROBI, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday opened a new government small arms factory in Kiambu County, central region, which will allow the east African nation to produce high quality weapons.

Kenyatta said the 4 billion shillings (about 37 million U.S. dollar) gun manufacturing factory will address the high cost of weapons acquisition and provide security sector independence.

"This ground breaking initiative will allow us to lay the foundation for addressing the high cost of weapons acquisition, free us from the complex foreign export approval processes currently in place, provide Kenya with greater security sector independence and flexibility, and allow Kenya to design and produce high-quality weapons, customized to our unique needs and operating environments," he said.

Kenyatta said in a statement issued after the ceremony that the factory, with a single-shift annual production capacity of 12,000 assault rifles, is part of a broad multi-agency national security industries strategy. The factory which draws 60 percent of its input from local sources seeks to enhance her self-reliance in security through local production of equipment and technologies in line with the government's development plan.

The arms factory will establish a sustainable national security industrial base that provides jobs for the Kenyan youth. Kenyatta commended the multi-agency security team overseeing the project for setting up the self-sustaining factory at a fraction of what the open market had proposed.

Through the arms factory, the president said, Kenya plans to create a weapons manufacturing surplus that will transform the country into an exporter of security equipment. "This will not only boost our balance of trade position, it will also create employment for thousands of Kenyans, in addition to creating a skills and technology environment that will drive transformation in civilian industries," he said.

Kenyatta said the government's decision to set up the arms factory was encouraged by Kenya's success in the local manufacture of some of the equipment needed in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i noted that the local manufacture of small arms will help eliminate exploitative brokers and cartels in the supply of weaponry, who he said, enrich themselves by manipulating the Government tendering system.

"In our country, I have come to learn from my short tour of duty that if COVID-19 or HIV/AIDS does not kill us, the disease that will kill us is middlemanism," Matiang'i said. Enditem

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