Kenya National Trading Corporation – KNTC was set up in 1965 as a private limited company owned by the Government. The main objective was to organise and effect exports from and imports into Kenya. KNTC could do business with countries where trading was controlled by the Government on an equal footing and thus strengthen private enterprise with other countries. But the corporation’s major function was to remove imbalances in the commercial life of Kenya by encouraging the small African businessman to enter the field of` trade.
This was done through elimination of unnecessary middlemen who dominated trade. This made small trade uncompetitive and consumers paid more for essential commodities. The following goods were exclusively distributed by KNTC: Salt, matches, ghee substitutes, alcoholic beverages, sugar in small packets, boiled sweets, toffees and caramels. Others are cotton seed oil, soap, bicycles, bicycle tyres and tubes, cotton fabrics, blankets and rugs, charcoal irons, batteries and torch cells. lt also dealt in transistor radios, dyed khaki twills, khaki, flashlights and torches and shirts.
However, with the onset of liberalisation of the economy in 1994, its monopoly ended. lt had to rethink