Eastleigh traders close shops to protest hawkers menace

Formal businesses in Eastleigh will remain closed for three days up to Friday as the owners protest “invasion” by hawkers who are displaying their wares in front of shops and by the roadsides.

Ibrahim Hussein, the chairman of the Eastleigh Business District Association said business has dipped as customers who can no longer access their shops resort to buying from the hawkers.

The protest comes weeks after similar complaints by Nairobi’s city centre traders prompted the sacking of several senior City Hall officials by Governor Evans Kidero.

“We will not accept to be discriminated against any more. We have closed all the shops from Wednesday, Thursday up to Friday. This will continue weekly until this problem is adequately addressed,” Mr Hussein said.

“These people have organised themselves into cartels and operate in front of our businesses. We pay high fees and they don’t pay anything.”

Hawkers have however lamented that space initially reserved for them in the area has been grabbed by a developer who is now putting up a building.

“I used to operate on that land but we were pushed out and we came to the street. Let the government show us where to go,” Benson Macharia, one of the hawkers said.

Earlier this month, officials from the Commission on Administrative Justice, the National Land Commission, the Nairobi City County and the Land ministry said they were seeking to revoke the ownership documents held by the developer on the 1.2-acre piece of land.

Mr Hussein said the association members had invested about Sh100 billion in their ventures, including retail, hotels, transport and entertainment.

He added that the hawkers had also taken over loading zones and half of the newly-built roads leaving the area in a near-permanent gridlock.

Documents availed to the Business Daily showed that one shopping complex had paid Sh400,000 for loading zones which they can now not access.

City Hall said it was in talks with the businessmen to ensure that their rights are protected but did not specify what kind of action they will take.