Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has come out strongly to defend the presence of hawkers in the Central Business District (CBD).
Speaking on Friday, Sakaja emphasized the importance of respecting these individuals who have chosen an honest means of earning a livelihood. Sakaja also highlighted the similarities between the work of hawkers and that of office workers, emphasizing that both groups are striving to provide for their families.
“On hawkers, we have to balance. There is someone who will complain about hawkers while he is wearing a suit at work to fend for his children. But because he has had a little challenge accessing a matatu home, he will say these hawkers should not be there,” Sakaja said.
“This is akin to looking down on someone else’s work. Someone who has decided to earn an honest living instead of becoming a thief,” he added.
Hawkers back to the ‘backstreets’
Sakaja further attributed the continued challenge of hawkers in the city to previous administrations’ failure to develop suitable markets for them. He argued that establishing such markets would not only benefit the hawkers themselves but also create job opportunities for many others.
“The reason we have hawkers in Nairobi is because we have always failed as a government to build markets. We have failed to give them opportunities to work,” Sakaja said.
The governor stated that his administration has a plan to address the issue of the hawkers. He revealed that in the coming weeks, hawkers would be relocated to the city’s backstreets.
Sakaja further disclosed that the hawkers had already been registered, and each would be assigned a designated spot.
“For now what we have done is we have registered them and prepared the 29 backstreets in town for them. We are currently reviewing the registration. Their work should be respected,” Sakaja affirmed.
