On Tuesday, three Nairobi Inspectorate officers agreed to pay Sh427,200 as compensation to a hawker they attacked, knocking out five teeth.
The out-of-court settlement may settle this particular incident, but it does not address the issue of harassment of traders by county askaris.
Harassment that has gone on for many years unchecked.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services and City Hall have a duty to ensure that business is conducted in an orderly manner in the capital.
It is their duty to ensure that those conducting businesses do it within the prescribed laws and regulations.
However, this does not give the officers the leeway to beat up hawkers at will.
In the case above, it is alleged that the three had asked for a Sh100 bribe but the hawker offered Sh20.
Such conduct must be brought to an end. The NMS and City Hall must reform the Inspectorate.
City Hall has a court to deal with lawbreakers. The askaris should arrest and present them before the magistrate.
It is unacceptable for them to take the law into their own hands yet expect hawkers to operate within the law.
Quote of the Day: “What draws men and women together is stronger than the brutality and tyranny which drive them apart.”
Millicent Fawcett
The English suffragist died on August 5, 1929
