Attempts to clear Nairobi’s streets of hawkers may not offer a lasting solution, Governor Johnson Sakaja has said, arguing that the county must find ways of accommodating informal traders while keeping the city orderly.
Sakaja said many people depend on street trade for their income and that completely shutting down the business would leave them without a source of livelihood.
Speaking on Radio Citizen on Wednesday, he said the county government was therefore looking at ways of controlling hawking instead of treating it as an activity that can simply be removed from the city.
“Hawking and street business is something that will never end. It requires us to manage it because those people are also looking for a livelihood,” Sakaja said.
He said discussions with street traders had resulted in plans to identify specific locations where they can do business and agree on hours when they will be allowed to operate.
The governor said such measures would also help deal with complaints from licensed traders whose businesses are affected when hawkers set up outside their premises and sell similar goods.
Sakaja said it would be unfair to interfere with stalls whose operators have paid the required licences, only for hawkers to position themselves nearby and compete for the same customers.
He said the county had opened at least 20 markets that can provide alternative trading areas for people who depend on informal businesses.
According to Sakaja, successive administrations had failed to provide sufficient spaces for informal traders, leaving many of them with few options apart from conducting business along the streets.
He said his administration was trying to correct the situation by creating more organised trading areas instead of relying entirely on arrests and removal of hawkers.
The governor also addressed concerns over alleged charges imposed on people who take photographs and videos around Nairobi.
Sakaja dismissed the claims, saying the fees in question were linked to major local and international film productions and were not intended for ordinary content creators.
“There is no way content creators will be charged in Nairobi when I am the governor,” Sakaja said.
He said the county was also preparing a photography festival where photographers would compete for an award recognising the best picture portraying Nairobi.
Turning to healthcare, Sakaja said Pumwani Maternity Hospital had delivered more than 11,000 babies in the past year without recording a maternal death.
He said the hospital had handled about 16,000 deliveries in the preceding year, while the county had continued expanding services for newborns.
Sakaja said Nairobi now has 23 neonatal beds and noted that Mathare North Hospital had carried out 65 Caesarean sections.
He further said 50 dentists had been deployed to every sub-county to improve residents’ access to dental treatment.
On drainage and flood preparedness, the governor said the county was implementing a Sh2.4 billion programme as it prepared for heavy rains and possible El Niño-related flooding.
He said the programme was intended to strengthen Nairobi’s ability to deal with flooding during periods of heavy rainfall.
Sakaja also spoke about transport, saying the planned mass transit system would be an important development for the capital.
Despite the planned improvements, he said Nairobi would eventually require an underground metro network to meet its growing transport needs.
The governor maintained that dealing with hawking required more than street enforcement, saying the county’s focus was on creating a system where informal traders can make a living without disrupting businesses or the smooth running of the city.