James Kyengo who sold soft drinks and cakes to park visitors narrates his woes since the park was closed for renovations.
| Francis Nderitu | Nation Media GroupNairobi
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Former Uhuru Park traders staring at bleak future
Tucked between the Green Park terminus, Nairobi Expressway and the imposing blue perimeter fence of Uhuru Park is the ‘new Uhuru Park’.
Serving as an artificial lake is a commanding two-metre-deep drainage ditch snaking its way towards the Haile Selassie roundabout.
On either side of the giant drainage system are sunbathing lovers whiling away the day as they contend with the noise from the ongoing construction of the multibillion-shilling expressway.
Just five metres from the drainage canal near the expressway is an open field that preachers now call home.
Some preachers who used the park as their open-air church to reach out to believers set up music equipment in the only space left after the park was closed.
On the day of our visit, a preacher and his team had just arrived with a van full of equipment ready to offer spiritual nourishment to traders and lovers.
But this ‘new Uhuru Park’ is a pale shadow of the real park behind the blue iron sheets. It is nothing more than a startup market.
Inside the 12.9-hectare recreational park, different businesses thrived but at the new one, horror stories are told in the open as traders struggle to get by.
Phelestine Muronji is one such a trader. She sells smokies and sausages and had just joined the business earlier this year.
Wycliffe Kimetu, a photographer who made a living taking photos of park visitors, recounts his losses since the park was closed for renovations.
Ms Muronji made Sh3,000 daily as business thrived in the old Uhuru Park. During weekends and public holidays, the daily returns would even hit Sh5,000.
But that took a huge nosedive when Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) delivered the bad news in September that all traders had to leave to pave the way for the rehabilitation of the 42-year-old park.
The new development followed Nairobi MCAs’ approval of a motion giving NMS the go-ahead to close the park, together with Central Park, for the work to start.
An ice cream vendor walks through the only open public space left with vendors lining up on both sides after the main park was sealed off for renovations.
Human traffic
“The business has dwindled and my returns have drastically dropped to Sh800 a day on the higher side,” she says.
“There is no human traffic of the kind we used to get at Uhuru Park. People pass here intermittently and this has made it hard to sell anything of note.”
Five metres from Ms Muronji is Cosmas Mutua. He has made bead products for 16 years at Uhuru Park.
He recalls how NMS officers delivered their eviction message as if it happened yesterday.
Stormwater drainage cuts across the last remaining open space of Uhuru Park.
“I remember it was a certain Wednesday when we were called together and told that we had to leave the park by the following week and that was it,” he says.
“They did not tell us how long the works would take or any other modalities. They just said that we had to relocate to Kamukunji.”
Just like Ms Muronji, Mr Mutua’s business depended on the human traffic the park used to attract, and he made a tidy profit of Sh2,000. Now, even Sh1,000 is hard to get.
“I have never been employed and this (business) is what I have known as my livelihood. The past three months have been tough. Like today, you are the first person I am selling to,” he says as he makes me two bead wrist bands, each for Sh100.
Cosmas Mutua, a bead maker sets up his stand as he attempts to keep his business alive while hoping for quicker reopening of the park.
Next to Mr Mutua is James Kyengo, who sells cakes, soft drinks, bottled water and groundnuts.
At his new station, he says, sometimes he sells only three bottles of soda or water an entire day.
Like Mr Mutua, he recalls that traders were only told to relocate to Kamukunji and that was all.
No information was forthcoming on when they were supposed to return or if they would be considered once the renovation was completed.
City residents relax on an open space next to a drainage at the Uhuru Park.
“It is tough here as very few people use this route. It is a far cry from what we were used to at Uhuru Park,” avers Mr Kyengo.
Peter Onyango has worked as a photographer at Uhuru Park for the past 13 years.
But he cuts a lonely figure as he rests under a tree at his temporary station.
During weekdays, he said, he would take not less than 50 photographs and this number would quadruple on weekends and public holidays when traffic at the park would be at its peak.
Phelestine Muranji, a smokie vendor attends to a customer at Uhuru Park as she awaits the reopening of the park.
Since the week started
Another photographer, Wycliffe Kimetu, says he has been in the business for 25 years but the past three months have been miserable for him and his family.
He says he has not taken any photos since the week started.
“Photography is what has been paying my bills but now I look useless as I can barely afford the life I used to live. Covid-19 made things worse but now (NMS Director-General Lt-Gen Mohamed) Badi has turned it upside down,” he laments.
“We are struggling. We used to get something from the park but now going back home without anything in the pocket is the norm.”
One of the trains that were a favourite for children visiting the park lies idle due to the closure of the park for renovations.
He explains that business boomed during festive seasons but there is nothing to smile about in 2021.
Some metres from him are two roller coasters, grounded and covered, a sign of days of inactivity.
Gordon Ariwo approaches us with a box of ice cream. He has been cooling people’s throats at Uhuru Park since 2014, but now he is struggling to get by.
At the ‘new Uhuru Park’, he has to wander from corner to corner hoping to sell something but now his usual customers are no longer there.
“It is approaching noon, and I have sold to only three people. I walk around looking for customers, while it was the other way around in the park,” he says.
Reached for comment, NMS spokesman Tony Mbarine says that life will return to normal and traders whose services would still be required would go back.
“If you used to do boat riding and afterwards there is nowhere for the boats, why would you go back? We will adjust according to the services required after the new park has been set up,” he avers.
The misery for traders has been compounded by a Nairobi court’s ruling that stopped the renovations at Uhuru Park in a case filed by the Communist Party of Kenya. While it was a blow to NMS, it was perhaps more stinging for the displaced traders.
The court order will remain in force pending the determination of the case, whose hearing is scheduled to start on February 1, 2022. This is the month the park was supposed to reopen.
