Gikomba traders in Nairobi have sued the county government over frequent fires and are now demanding Sh1.2 billion in compensation.
The class suit filed by 918 traders lists the challenges they face as a result of frequent and unpredictable fires in the market.
The traders say they have suffered immense pain, extensive injuries and indescribable psychological trauma after being thrown back into poverty every so often.
“Tragically, every attempt by the plaintiffs to regather themselves has always been dealt further devastation by the recurrent infernos,” the court was told.
They say fire incidents have occurred at least 15 times since 2015.
On June 28, 2018, a fire incident claimed at least 15 lives while hundreds sustained injuries.
The traders want the courts to place the blame squarely on the county government, citing its failure to provide firefighting and disaster management services.
They say the county government has a constitutional and contractual duty to take reasonable measures to avert foreseeable loss of life and property.
“The losses sustained by the plaintiffs [traders], and significantly, the dangers hovering over their workplace, are so fundamental that to allow further negligence and inattention by defendant [county government] would be a travesty of justice,” the suit papers say.
They say they always pay levies, rates and licences imposed by the county government.
In their suit papers, the traders accuse Nairobi county of refusing to engage them on how to get solutions to the perennial fire problems at the market.
They also argue that the county has failed to disclose who or what causes the fires and why fire engines systemically respond without water or when it’s too late.
Edited by A.N
