– Cost of graft –
Already about 140 hawkers have hired a private piece of land at a fee of Sh25,000 every two months.
“It is painful and expensive, but we don’t have any option. We protested until our shoes were worn out but nothing happened; we were ignored,” the agitated traders told Capital FM News.
One of the Eastleigh traders, Joseph Muturi has already positioned himself along Tom Mboya Street, adding to thousands of others in the Central Business District.
“I cannot afford the Sh25,000 fee…I have decided to join my colleagues in the CBD,” he said, when Capital FM News caught up with him at his new location.
In Eastleigh, the streets are now clean but until when?
Hawkers who were evicted remains ‘stateless’ and may eventually return according to Waweru.
“The only solution is for the County Government to return the market,” he asserts.
They were evicted from the streets of Eastleigh after shopping mall traders closed their businesses and demanded their relocation.
Their Chairperson Ibrahim Hussein said they were losing business since makeshift stalls were being established outside their premises.
Their grievances, being the hundreds of hawkers operating outside their premises, some selling similar products at a lower price to their potential clients.
“Where do they want us to go?” one of the Eastleigh hawkers representative, Haji Abdi asked.
“We will only leave if the county government returns our market.
READ: Hawkers Diaries: Tale of suffering and years of deceit
Abdi accused the County Government of illegally selling their market which, “we had operated in for many years. We did not have this problem.”
This just confirms that they may have been evicted from the streets of Eastleigh, but the problem is not solved, they may soon return.
On the problem of land grabbing, Governor Evans Kidero admits it is rampant.
“This problem has to end. Every day I have to speak about land grabbing in Nairobi,” he complained.
Though he has since said that he will not ‘touch’ the hawkers, his statement has been treated with suspicion by most of them who just think he is just being a politicians.
It’s that time when politicians say what you want to listen, Waweru says.
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