Award-winning Kenyan singer and songwriter Nadia Mukami is highlighting the issue of period poverty in Kenya following Senator Karen Nyamu’s comments on pad taxation.
Ms Nyamu’s comments come as Kenyans continue to protest the tabled Finance Bill 2024 which proposes a tax on internationally manufactured goods which includes diapers and pads.
On Tuesday, National Assembly Finance Committee Chair Kuria Kimani said that locally manufactured goods would not be taxed.
“The eco levy will only be chargeable to imported finished products,” Mr Kimani said.
“All locally manufactured items and especially diapers and sanitary towels will not be subject to eco levy.”
As the protests went on as planned, Kenyans online quickly pointed out that there were very few local companies that manufactured pads in the country. An issue they raised with Ms Nyamu after she shared a photo of herself at State House with the caption “dissecting the finance bill.”
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The senator was not fazed by the comments and responded: “Only imported brands attract that tax. Encouraging local manufacturing of sanitary towels and diapers. Why not? So many Chinese companies already manufacturing here exactly what we import. At least the labour and raw materials is ours.”
But it was her flippant comment later, in which she points out that she uses “tampons” that caused the outrage.
In response to that particular comment, Ms Mukami, who was part of the protests yesterday, said it was a “careless” comment to make in a country where girls and women still experience period poverty.
According to the UN and a report done by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), schoolgirls from marginalised communities engage in transactional sex to pay for menstrual products, increasing their risk of HIV infection.
An issue Ms Mukami pointed out in her statement before sharing that the price of sanitary towels had gone up locking out many families who could previously afford them.
“The conversations we should be having is (sic) how can we make pads affordable if not free…condoms are free why not pads? This is a very careless comment,” said Ms Mukami.
The issues Kenyan women are raising over the issue of sanitary products
Diversification – Women’s health is an understudied topic around the world and none more than reproductive health which includes menstruation.
Different women experience menstruation differently, which means the only way to cater for each woman’s needs is to diversify the product offering.
Unless local manufacturers can offer as diverse a product range as there are Kenyan women, they will be forced to pay higher prices for their reproductive needs by turning to internationally manufactured brands.
Quality – While digital activism is a popular subject attributed to the current protests and Gen Z at the moment, in 2019, Kenyan women online through the hashtag #MyAlwaysExperience took the company Procter & Gamble to task over their substandard period products sold under the company’s flagship Always.
One of the main issues women like physician Dr Njoki Ngumi raised at the time was that they had been allowed to sell such products under the nose of the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
The question women now have is whether KEBS will ensure that all products manufactured in Kenya are up to standard.
Pricing – Critics of the finance bill have pointed out that the current economic environment is not suitable for local businesses to thrive without increasing production costs. As such, will women who can’t afford the current prices be left unable to afford products that are key to their health?
Nadia Mukami is among celebrities who have been vocal in their support for the protests.
