Hawkers ‘time to eat’ as election date approaches

Every election year, Nairobi undergoes a change that leaves the city battered and bruised.

Basic services like garbage collection, security and general law and order go to the dogs as hawkers and street families take over city pavements, and the authorities conveniently look the other way.

The city deteriorates to the level of a man-eat-man struggle as the authorities engage in a game of shifting blame.

As he walks through Muthurwa Market Mr Hosea Mwangi explains that this is a common occurrence every election year.

Licences are renewed and issued according to political allegiances. New selling points are created outside designated areas to accommodate more sellers.

“It is space for votes,” the hawkers’ spokesman said, adding that this happens with the full knowledge and participation of City Hall officials.

“Look at it this way. We have a town clerk and a mayor who have publicly declared their political ambitions. Do you think they would want to tamper with potential voters?”

The hawkers are not bothered. They embrace the situation and make the most of it.

“Even the running battles you see between us and askaris are not to rid the city of hawkers but to create space for those sympathetic to the causes of politicians. That is the truth. They know it; we know it,” he said.

Even more than the residents, the business community is feeling the heat. “They know no one will push them back.

“That is why they push boundaries. That is why you will find them at the entrances of our shops. Or in our parking spaces.

“During this period, the city by-laws are put on hold because of the elections,” said Timothy Muriuki, the chairman of the Nairobi Central Business District Association.

Mr Muriuki says that elections should not be an excuse to erase the gains made over the last four years.

“Even if some NCC officials have political ambitions, they should delegate the day-to-day running of the city to the council’s executives. They have no votes to look for,” he said.

But hawkers are not the only concern. Around 2003, the Narc government took it upon itself to remove street families from cities and major towns.

But the programme soon collapsed, and the previously resettled families made their way back to the streets. There has yet to be another such programme.

Mr Muriuki is on a committee charged with ridding the city of street families. He says a lot more than relocation to transit centres needs to be done before any long-term solution is found.

“We must profile these families first; learn their origin and ages, then break this information down into achievable goals.