Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Armed with all manner of goods for sale, hundreds of traders arrived in Naivasha last week ready to make a killing during the World Rally Championship (WRC). 

But by Monday morning, many were counting losses due to low sales. The traders who had been licensed for the three-day event pointed an accusing finger at the organisers for failing to control tens of traders who were hawking by the roadsides.

John Kimani, who had a van full of liquor and soft drinks, said the market was flooded with alcohol with nearly everybody involved in the trade.

Kimani, who had travelled from Nairobi, said that two in three traders were selling alcohol and soft drinks. “We ended up making huge losses as our sales were very low,” he said.

Paul Karimi, who operates a butchery, said he had been forced to sell his meat at a loss as he could not take it back to Nakuru.

He said they had paid a licence of Sh10,000 to the county government but the business had been hijacked by unlicensed traders. “We had been assured that only the licensed traders would be allowed into the designated areas,” he said.

Naivasha sub-county administrator Samuel Wamae said close to 100 traders had been licensed by the county ahead of the rally.

He admitted that tens of other traders who arrived with various goods packed in their cars led to flooding adversely affecting the sales of the licensed ones.