Row emerges after county government asks hawkers to leave Thika CBD
By Mathew.Ndungu, October 11, 2022A row between hundreds of small-scale business operators and Kiambu county has emerged in Thika town as the county government moves to reorganize the industrious town.
As the busy town begins the journey to a city status, over 700 hawkers are set to be evicted from the Central Business District (CBD), a move that has irked the vendors who have vowed to stay put.
In a seven-day notice issued by John Mungai, the Thika sub-county administrator, any hawker found selling their wares along the streets and walkways will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Mungai, in the letter also copied to Thika deputy county commissioner and police claims the town is over-congested, a situation he insists is as a result of traders spreading and selling their merchandise along the streets and rampant food hawking.
In the plan, Kiambu County government intends to relocate all mitumba clothes and shoes sellers to the already overcrowded Mukiriti Market which it claims has enough space for everyone.
“To avoid accidents due to congestion orchestrated by trading along the streets and to restore order in town, all traders who spread and sell their items along the streets are hereby informed to stop selling along the streets and verandas and get back to Mukiriti Market which has enough space for everyone,” part of Mungai’s letter read.
Some of the hawkers are reported to have been operating with impunity to the disadvantage of shop owners who claim to have been blocked as the small-scale vendors operate right outside their premises.
But the hawkers, some of whom have operated for over a decade insist they know no other home and have no other alternative source of livelihood and evicting them will be tantamount to abetting lawlessness.
Led by James Mburu, who has been a hawker in the busy town for 20 years, the vendors claim they only operate in the evening and thereby do not interfere with key town activities.
“We only operate from 5pm when others are closing down their businesses. None of us operates earlier than this and we don’t see why we should be evicted. This business is the only livelihood for hundreds of households and telling us to leave will mean increased insecurity, begging and disorder,” said Mburu.