Uproar pitying MP, MCAs and Governor over Thika hawkers

Thika, Sunday May 14, 2023

KNA by Muoki Charles

A row is brewing between Thika elected leaders and Kiambu governor Kimani Wamatangi over failure to settle hawkers who were banned from Thika CBD during daytime months ago.

The leaders led by Thika MP Alice Ng’ang’a and MCA Kennedy Mwangi have given Wamatang’i two weeks ultimatum to give the traders alternative areas to sell their wares, else they will order them to return to CBD to operate normally.

During a bursary issuing ceremony in Thika, the MP told the governor to honor his promise and settle the hawkers adding that buying time was causing tension.

“The more the governor buys time, the more the hawkers will feel aggrieved and this will cause unnecessary tension and grudges. Let him honour his promise and look for alternative space for them to trade during the day,” the MP said.

When chasing them out of the CBD, Wamatangi said it will bring order and discipline in the town that he is lobbying to be elevated into a city.

He said shop traders had complained that hawkers out-competed them despite them having to pay the licenses and other requirements for running business. They were only allowed to hawk in the streets from 6.30pm, as the county government looked for alternative space to settle them.

John Mwangi, Thika Township MCA said almost eight months later, nothing was forthcoming and that the hawkers were running impatient.

He wondered why such restrictions of operating during stipulated time only applied to hawkers from Thika town.

“In other towns like Kiambu, Githurai, Ruiru, Limuru, hawkers run their business any time of the day. Why did the governor put restrictions to those in Thika? My people are running out of patience and if the governor does not act fast, they will return to the CBD,” said the MCA.

He said Thika contributes the highest revenue to Kiambu County and that traders should not be frustrated.

Hawkers interviewed decried the harsh conditions that they work under while working at night, in the poor lit streets.

They added that some had given up due to the reduced returns in sales due to operating at night when most of their customers have already gone home.

They also complained of harassment by county askaris who confiscate their wares once they are found operating before the stipulated time.

“The governor should review the operating hours to around 3pm else he allocates us a place to be selling from failure to which we shall return to the CBD as early as 7am,” said Mwangi Kimani, a hawker.

Courtesy; K.N.A