Time askari brutality came to an end

Visit any urban centre in Kenya on a regular basis and sooner or later you are likely to witness a sudden, mad dash of hawkers running helter-skelter with their livelihoods in worn plastic sacks.

Who has not seen askaris bundle hawkers unmercifully into municipal vehicles often accompanied by crude handling of crutches and wheelchairs of disabled traders?

The routine is so common that few blink an eyelid. Askaris drive round and round until hawkers “pay rent” or else they confiscate their goods.

A fate worse awaits those hauled off to municipal courts that still operate as if the rule of law and the Constitution does not concern them. Hawkers are herded into court as a unit; no time for individual pleas, so fines are imposed for breaking bylaws that no one fully comprehends.

According to ICJ–Kenya, 90 per cent of cases in these courts involve the poor and 96 per cent of those charged are not legally represented. The hawkers quickly resume business and the askaris find another location to collect money and life goes on.

A recent report by the Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU) titled A Cry of Justice shows how 50 per cent of hawkers and small scale traders in Nairobi were forced to pay bribes to city askaris in the previous 12 months.

TORTURED BY ASKARIS

Ten per cent of those interviewed admitted that they were injured or tortured by the same askaris. More disturbing still, is that disabled hawkers suffered more frequently through loss of goods or physical injuries. That is not to absolve hawkers of all blame as their most frequent offence is their reluctance to pay licence or to operate within areas assigned to them.

Yet purchasing permits is no guarantee that these informal traders will be free from the crudity and exploitation of municipal askaris. The impunity of this group makes regular police appear like angels.

But who has ever advocated for their reform, overhaul or better still disbandment? Hawkers may be a nuisance but who has not benefited from their services? Just about every successful business person in this country learned their trade on the streets.

The informal sector still meets the everyday needs of the 46 per cent or 18 million poor citizens. As long as we live in such an unequal society then hawkers and small traders will be needed to provide services and goods to the masses.

But society has very ambiguous attitudes to this group of hard-working but mostly impoverished people. They are regarded with contempt and suspicion but the public continuously buys their reasonably priced items. The State wants revenue from their licences but gives nothing back in terms of investment, incentives or protection.

The IMLU report reveals that up to 70 per cent of hawkers are married and this is the only means of sustaining their families. Permits in Nairobi cost Sh2,500 but these traders average loss of confiscated goods is Sh10,000 per year.

The informal sector still employs more than the formal but until its creativity and hard work is recognised, honoured and promoted the country is the loser.

[email protected] @GabrielDolan1