Traders count losses as Uhuru market is demolished overnight
By Mustafa Juma, March 9, 2026Small traders at Uhuru open-air market along Jogoo Road have been left counting losses after their stalls were demolished overnight.
Bulldozers descended on the stalls on the night of Sunday, March 8, 2026, just days after the Nairobi City County government issued an eviction notice.
Videos circulating on social media show some traders combing through the rubble to see if they could salvage anything. Most stalls within the market were completely flattened.
This comes just days after hundreds of small-scale traders at the market protested and barricaded Jogoo Road from lunch hour on March 6, 2026, over a 72-hour vacation notice dated March 4, 2026, that the Nairobi City County government had reportedly issued to demolish the market.
The traders lamented the lack of an alternative space to conduct their businesses, questioning the move by the government despite a pending court case over the matter.
The traders took to the streets to question the move by the county government, demanding that they vacate a market they say they have depended on for decades to support their families.
Roysambu demolitions
The Uhuru market demolition comes on the backdrop of the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) demolitions at the Roysambu Roundabout.
The operation, which took place on the night of March 4, 2026, targeted illegal stalls and kiosks that had encroached on public land, affecting both sides of the busy highway section.
Structures on the side touching the Kenya Power perimeter wall were pulled down, including parts of stalls that extended into the restricted area. The area along Thika Road, where vendors commonly sold clothes and other goods, was completely levelled.
Previous Uhuru market demolition attempts
In March 2025, chaos erupted at a section of Jogoo Road as traders blocked it to protest the demolition of structures at the nearby Uhuru Market.
At the time, the group claimed a private developer planned to demolish their structures to construct new ones.
They said they had not been given an alternative place to sell their wares. In response, the protesters lit bonfires on the busy road, blocking traffic.
Anti-riot police were deployed to the scene, prompting running battles.
Police diverted motorists to other routes as the chaos raged for the better part of the morning.
The protests started from the market before spreading to Jogoo Road. Soon after, they set tyres and litter ablaze on the highway, paralysing transport and making the road impassable to motorists.
The bonfires were lit near the junction of Likoni Road, just a few metres from St Stephen’s Anglican Church of Kenya.