Gikomba traders reject Sh5m compensation
What you need to know:
- Led by their chairman Nichodemus Mwadede, they have vowed to stay put and build temporary structures to resume business.
- On Tuesday, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said the county had set aside Sh5million to help those affected by the Gikomba fire recover their lost property.
- Gikomba has a daily turnover of Sh500 million a day according to the county government which translates to about Sh15 billion monthly.
Traders at Gikomba market have rejected a Sh5 million compensation plan from the Nairobi county government.
They claim that the plan to set up permanent structures where a fire gutted down a large section of the market, will displace them.
The restive crowds who lost everything in the Monday night fire say they will suffer losses if they wait for the county government to put up the stalls.
Led by their chairman Nichodemus Mwadede, they have vowed to stay put and build temporary structures to resume business.
On Tuesday, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said the county had set aside Sh5million to help those affected by the Gikomba fire recover their lost property.
He said that plans are underway to ensure that structures destroyed by the fire are replaced by permanent structures to be built by the National Youth Service (NYS).
“We have met the government representatives today and we do not agree with their plans, they want to bar us from rebuilding our stalls. That is telling us to go hungry and become thieves,” Mr Mwadede told the acknowledging crowds.
Gikomba has a daily turnover of Sh500 million a day according to the county government which translates to about Sh15 billion monthly.
The traders claim that the government has disowned them yet they have been paying rates of Sh15,000 a month.
However a section of the market was being rebuilt by second hand clothes vendors who say the order not to build does not affect them.
Carol Wambui said traders next to the residential houses who mainly deal with shoes are the ones who have been barred since the residents blame them for the fire.
“We know it only affects the area between where a road is supposed to pass through and the residential houses which the government said it will rebuild,” she said.
This is not the first time that traders have opposed upgrade of a market after suspecting they would be displaced.
In April 30 hundreds of traders held demonstrations within the Central Business District to protest the planned renovation of Woodley market.
