MADARAKA open-air market in Thika town on Saturday was reopened following an order from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Kiambu government had directed that the market be closed on the grounds that traders had refused to pay levies.
Police engaged traders in running battles.
One trader was shot dead and another hospitalised with gunshot wounds.
“Since Friday I have been here wanting to know whether there was a court order to close down the market,” Thika Town MP Alice Ngang’a told the press.
Ngang’a said police were deployed and chased traders away with teargas and live bullets.
“I talked to the President and he ordered the market to be reopened, since our county government does not want to listen to the common mwananchi,” Ngang’a said.
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa said the county government has failed its people.
He said similar chaos happened in Dagoretti market in Kikuyu, where police were deployed to harass traders and the market was closed.
“In my constituency traders lost more than Sh50 million after the slaughterhouse was closed,” Ichungwa said.
Ngewa MCA Karungo wa Thangwa urged Kiambu assembly speaker Micheal Irungu to recall the county representatives to discuss traders’ harassment.
