Herculean task for county in bid to tame hawkers

Nakuru is world-famous as home to the largest single population of flamingoes and a cultural melting pot of all Kenyan communities in search of a bright future.

But its success to attract capital, money, goods and services, is also its most painful toe, with street vendors now strewn across the streets, road reserves, shop verandahs and even in the middle of some roads leading, to their unofficial closure.

STREET VENDORS

Their continued existence is hinged on their numerical strength, which politicians exploit to safeguard their interests.

In an interview with the Nation, street vendors’ representatives expressed disgust at Governor Kinuthia Mbugua’s ‘change-of-heart’, which saw some of them evicted from the town centre and their makeshift structures demolished.

The hawkers have used their numbers to arm-twist politicians into allowing their operations in unconventional areas, notably outside banks, ATM lobbies and also squeezing as they jostle for space at the main bus terminus.

The streets become crowded after 5pm when vegetable, fruit, clothes and other vendors invade streets especially near bus stops to cash in on the rush hour.

The noisy sellers hawk their wares late into the night to travellers criss-crossing Nakuru Town on their way to western Kenya or Nairobi, with creative vendors selling tea and roasted arrow roots to keep the night cold away.

Police boss Benard Kioko said the erection of high-mast floodlights in the town centre and within estates had led to proliferation of all types of trade at night.

Governor Mbugua believes that order must be restored, and all small traders forced out of the town centre, as their makeshift structures contribute to insecurity and ruin the face of the town.