What Dispersed Gikomba Traders Get From the Government

Annually Gikomba traders are steered with losses as the different sections blaze in a fire. Not even six months into 2020, the market has been in flames twice. On February 1 part of the market burst into flames and property of unknown value destroyed, the fire started around 2 am.

Hardly had the traders recover from the first fire incident when the anther section of the market got burned. Fire destroyed an unknown number of structures at the cereals, and ‘mitumba’ sections at Gikomba opposite COTU offices in Nairobi on at around 3 am morning, June 25.

Now three weeks after traders facing their worst in the mysterious fire, they woke up to demolished stall upon the county governments order. This was done to pave the way for “ROAD EXPANSION”.

I hope you are comprehending this clearly. The Nairobi county government just brought down people’s stalls at this challenging pandemic time to expand a road network, not even building a new one which people are in dire need of but enlarging an existing one.

Could it be the nightmare faced by the Gikomba traders all a scheme to grab the land???, lots of questions now remain a mystery. This brings us to the question; Does the Government genuinely care about the “common mwanchi?”

This is the highest form of betrayal Kenya’s have seen from its Government. Now prepare for crime to rise, more gender-based violence, a significant impact on mental health and adverse effects of reducing teenage pregnancies. The Government has just robed its citizens the only means of livelihood they had in broad daylight.

Gikomba market was a source of employment to many youths in the country. Whatever becomes of them after this is the Government’s own doing. All it could have taken is a notice to give the traders time for a safe exit. It’s high time the Government take a different approach in evicting people.