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

As the August poll nears, the politicking era has been a lucrative season for Kitengela hawkers, who now operate without restrictions of time.

Ordinarily, hawkers in the populous town work from 3pm, but in the recent past, they have been working from 6am to late in the evening. 

Jubilant hawkers say despite the tough economic times, they continue reaping big from longer working hours. 

More profits

“I sell second-hand jackets and sweaters. I am making more profit from daily sales because I am working longer hours. The cold season is also a blessing in disguise, because customers are buying warm clothes in large quantities,” says hawker Enock Mutua.

Mutua recalls that previously he would get a profit of less than Sh1,000 a day, but he has recently been making profits of up to Sh3,300 a day.

The hawkers also say the Sh30 levies charged by the county government per day has remained constant.

“However, we are still intimidated by the presence of county askaris, as nobody gave us permission to work all day. It just started with a few hawkers who began opening early. Upon realising that they were not being harassed, we all started opening early. What began four months ago is now a trend. The working environment is ample. We are grateful to the county government and we continue praying that this continues even after the elections,” says Ann Njoki, a utensils hawker. She says her profits have increased to Sh1,700 per day from Sh600.

Lack of strict restrictions has also led to an increase in food hawkers, who move from office to office selling meals like pilau and githeri, ferried in buckets and hot-pots.

Kitengela has over 700 registered hawkers but the number has increased recently, with traders occupying open spaces and road reserves.  Open spaces have been turned into temporary markets. 

Between 2013 and 2017, hawking was a thorn in the flesh of the county administration and was prohibited.

Hawkers waged  court battles with county askaris amid rampant cases of harassment, leading to dwindling fortunes. 

There was a revival of trade in  2017 during the General Election period. The hawkers, registered under an umbrella union, were permitted to operate from 3pm to 11pm.

On Sundays, which are market days, they are allowed to operate the entire day. 

Street lights within the town centre have also helped the hawkers extend their working hours, with most of them closing business at 8pm to 9pm.

Second-hand clothes and shoes are the main items on sale.