Flowers farmers, hoteliers affected by opposition demos

The demonstrations called by the opposition are hurting the tourism and flower sectors, industry players have said, raising fears of job losses in the coming days.

With flower farmers losing produce worth millions and hotels facing cancellations in Naivasha, stakeholders have warned of a major crisis if the demos are not called off.

And with the opposition planning to continue the demos next week, the clergy, business and political leaders in the lakeside town condemned the deaths and loss of property.

Through the Kenya for Peace Movement, the leaders questioned how the demonstrations would bring down the cost of living, noting that it was the poor Mwananchi who was suffering more.

The group chairman Edward Maina said that flowers and fish worth millions of shillings went to waste as transport on various roads was paralyzed.

Maina said that Naivasha was home to tens of flower farms adding that the continued demos spelled doom for hundreds of flower farm workers.

“The demonstrations which were meant to address the cost of living have ended up leaving scores dead, others injured and property damaged and its time this was stopped,” he said.

Speaking in Naivasha, he called on the opposition to concede defeat adding that the election period was long gone and it was time to rebuild the nation.

The group’s secretary Bernard Macharia questioned the sincerity of the demo which left at least seven dead, noting that the planners had an ulterior motive.

While admitting that the cost of living had gone up, Macharia attributed this to the global financial crisis and climate change.

“If the real problem is the cost of living, why are protestors burning cars, looting property and attacking innocent members of the society?” he posed.

The chairman of Naivasha matatu Saccos Samuel Ndogi called on the opposition leaders to stop misusing innocent youths in their fight for power.

Ndogi said that the matatu sector was adversely affected by the demo after pulling their vehicles from the roads for fear of attacks.

“We are calling on the government to take decisive action on all those involved in the looting and destruction of property in the name of demos,” he said.

A hawker Veronicah Ngugi said that the poor were the most affected by the demos which were planned for ulterior motives.

“In Naivasha, we did not sell our wares after matatus pulled out of the road while fish and other products were not ferried to Nairobi due to the chaos,” she said.