Let’s share a thought here about hawkers. For those who have travelled overseas or even city centre, Nairobi) there aren’t any rag-like hawkers stalls along major streets. In Nairobi, it took serious days of battles between city council askaris and the then Nairobi City Council care-taker Taskforce committee (or some such body appointed by Moi), and led by (now ODMs strongman Fred Gumo) to clear them from the city centre. Unlike in Nairobi where many dies during the evictions popularly known as Muoroto Evictions, no one has been killed and probably only one person seriously injured, if the reports in our admins possession are correct. Yet today, when one walks along Nairobi Streets, we are awed by its cleanliness and feel proud that we are seen that way especially in the eyes of foreigners. That certainly isn’t the true image of our country but as a lady journalist in Nakuru recently asked: “Do you take your dirty utensils into the sitting room for any reason?” We do have intense poverty and massive unemployment yet we cannot allow our tourism renowned town to be taken over by irregularly built shacks some of whose owners have run them for over a decade without improving on them. Some of us, like admin of this page, were brought up with earnings from sales of such hawkers and it was usual, even then as I was a kid, to see askaris chasing away hawkers so it’s not a phenomenon that has come with the innaugural Nakuru County Government or Governor as Gikaria and Co are wont to make us believe! The same people who are now wailing out loud here that hawkers are being demolished were the ones shouting the loudest that Nakuru town’s roads are nowadays dirty and inaccessible due to hawkers unchecked invasion or proliferation . We are not saying that eviction of hawkers is something to celebrate but it is painful as it’s our own people (read voters) who end up suffering. Probably its style of execution here and there could have been excessive and unjustified. But the town, any CITY FOR THAT MATTER-must have order and that is part of the job we gave our Governor and his government. Without belabouring the point, let’s just say this. Governor Kinuthia said at one of the national days at Afraha Stadium that ‘some of us do not care whether we will be re-elected or not but we must do what we must do for the best interests and development of our people”. There are many positive things our Government and Government has done which aren’t being appreciated. We should probably thank God that if someone else we wouldn’t mention was a Governor, the hawkers would have been handled more ruthlessly into what can today be comparatively called massacres of the petty business people some of who were in the past been simply shot dead and hauled into Moi’s cages when they protested. Remember how Wahu of Flamingo Estate and the sister of David ‘Western ‘Kuria died just to mention but two examples out of hundreds of others ? Or the opposite may have happened…no action taken leading to a filthy city in the tourism circuit of Kenya. The County Government as far as we know is trying its best (which may not be good enough so far) to create jobs for youths and the unemployed and create a conducive atmosphere for EVERYONE to thrive. Prior to the demolitions, the concerned hawkers were given adequate notice contrary to what some politicians are claiming. The Governor has also assured most of the hawkers through personal visits, of his government’s support for their initiatives provided they follow city laws and put up attractive structures. He said putting up shacks using gunias (gunny bags and polythene) papers are not the way to go and we agree when he adds that THAT is akin glorifying poverty. We know of some traders who’ve used such structures for MANY YEARS and have never made moves to IMPROVE them into attractive places where even the owners can feel good when going to in the mornings ready to trade. Yet, some have made millions if not thousands of shillings in these places over the years. Anyway, it’s and always be a catch22 situation for any politician in the Governor’s office. They’ll be damned if they do and damned if they don’t. And that the way life is isn’t it? Sometimes you are damned either you do good or you do bad. You can’t please everyone EVERY time and we thank the Governor for ensuring the process isn’t as brutal as it has been in Muoroto and during the PC Chelang’a days where no amount of state-force was spared to deal with the ‘menace’. But by and large, I believe the MAJORITY of Nakuru residents understand the Governor’s position and that is why, despite intense incitement by some politicians, this town hasn’t gone up into flames and is instead, thriving. Even in your house there’s some people (and rubbish) you throw out if they aren’t conducive to your comfort regardless of their status in your life. The good things are our Governor believes in and implements what he believes in. That’s why we too believes in him on this page and have found no reason to condemn him as he has done nothing extreme (in cruelty as depicted) but much more good than harm. If h was only motivated by the desire to retain votes come 2017, n hawker would have been removed. Instead they would have been all over in every street and I’m sure YOU wouldn’t have loved that or would you? Our MP David Gikaria would be doing better if he was actively engaged in telling the traders the truth and better still, NEGOTIATING for those in the cross line o fire-to be given options and time to move out from areas they’ve been declared person non grata like road reserves sand the like. Better still, the MP and MCAs would have used their intensive energy to assists the traders obtain funds to IMPROVE their businesses and educate them on self-improvement which will lead to the county’s improvement. Unfortunately the vice-versa is what is happening which creates a situation of tension in town creating an atmosphere where definitely, no investor. Local or foreign, would want to delve themselves into! The Gumo who violently harassed Nairobi people got elected Westlands MP (IN Nairobi province) so many times yet the majority of voters who were Kikuyus to the surprise of most people! One school of thought even suggests this is how Gumo became popular although we arent asking our county government to go the same brutal way. The capital city became clean and attractive! that;s our point here. We too can become Kenyas capital city cant we?
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:13:57 +0000
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