The Kiambu government is planning to evict hawkers from Thika town as it seeks to elevate it to a city status.
In a seven-day notice issued by Thika subcounty administrator John Mungai, any hawkers found selling their wares along the streets and walkways will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
The letter copied to Thika deputy county commissioner Mbogo Mathioya and police indicates that the town is congested due to the influx of hawkers.
In the plan, the Kiambu government intends to relocate all mitumba clothes and shoe sellers to Mukiriti market, which it says has enough space for everyone.
“To avoid accidents due to congestion orchestrated by trading along the streets and to restore order in town, all traders who spread and sell their items along the streets are hereby informed to stop selling along the streets and verandas and get back to Mukiriti market which has enough space for everyone,” the notice reads.
Mungai noted that some of the hawkers have been operating with impunity by trading their wares outside shops whose owners pay licenses.
However, the county’s plan has irked more than 1,000 hawkers who have vowed to remain unmoved.
They say hawking is their only source of income and driving them out of the town will render them jobless.
Led by their chairman James Mburu, the vendors said they only operate in the evening and do not interfere with key town activities.
“We have been following the orders we were given by the previous regimes of operating in the evenings. We don’t understand why the new regime has come to haunt us and deny us the opportunity to feed for our families,” Mburu said.
The vendors urged Governor Kimani Wamatangi to convene a meeting and involve them in the planning of the town’s central business district.
They said their presence in the busy town has significantly reduced insecurity and kicking them out of the town will propagate lawlessness in the area.
“The government has promised to empower small-scale traders and the plans by the Kiambu government is outright harassment of the small traders,” trader Jane Njeri said.
Should the county government fail to revoke its eviction intentions, the hawkers vowed to hold a series of demonstrations starting Thursday this week to pressure Wamatangi to address the matter.
Previous county leaderships failed to successfully evict the hawkers despite numerous crackdowns and warnings.
