•Wamatangi said no one was authorized to demolish structures and the Thika incident came as a surprise to him.
•The county boss said as a way of cushioning the affected traders from the loss incurred, he would give each of them Sh 7,000 to enable them to feed their families.
Kiambu County governor Kimani Wamatangi has said that the County will compensate Thika traders whose stalls were unlawfully demolished.
The structures were brought down last week following the outbreak of cholera in the county which has so far registered over 20 cases and claimed a life.
Wamatangi said no one was authorized to demolish structures and the Thika incident came as a surprise to him.
Wamatangi told the stakeholders during the forum that the traders had complained of unfair demolitions which have rendered them jobless.
"The County has recorded twenty-one (21) cases of cholera with the recent one being a student from Mount Kenya University," Wamatangi said.
The county boss said as a way of cushioning the affected traders from the loss incurred, each of them would get Sh7,000 to enable them to feed their families.
Wamatangi also ordered the confiscated goods to be returned to the traders as they wait for compensation.
"My government will always embrace public participation in the execution of its mandates to avoid confrontations with the public or unnecessarily hurting innocent people," he added.
He further said that as compensation for their destroyed structures, the County Government of Kiambu will also build standard vibandas for them that will be replicated in other parts of Kiambu.
Wamatangi further said that they agreed that the food traders must follow the department of health directive that includes obtaining a certificate of health.
“We agreed that the food traders must follow the department of health directives that include a certificate of health, have clean water to wash their hands, wear a white dust coat, and not serve kachumbari or raw salads,” Wamatangi said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
The Ministry has since deployed response activities including field investigations, enhanced surveillance, lab testing, case management, risk communication, community engagement, and environmental sanitation to help manage the outbreak.