Hundreds of traders in Gikomba are counting losses after an early Sunday morning razed down their stalls reducing their property, that were predominantly shoes worth millions, to ashes.
The fire, locals and traders said, began slightly after midnight, a time when they had retired to bed and could hardly do anything to salvage their stock.
Seated on a rock at what was the entrance to the shoe-selling section of Gikomba Market, Mary Gathoni, a trader whose distribution stall was destroyed utterly, revealed that she lost stock worth Sh3million.
The shoes, Ms Gathoni explained, had just landed and had been locked up at her stall and were to be redistributed amongst several traders who took their wares from here at wholesale prices and later on retail for profit.
Traders salvage items from burning debris after fire broke out at Gikomba market in Nairobi on May 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
“I have lost everything. I now owe over 20 traders who had ordered and paid upfront for their shoes. As is our custom, they were to come pick them after church service and open their stalls. Now all our property has been burnt,” she said.
Never, in her 45-year stay at the massive market in Nairobi’s Eastlands, has she experienced such a loss.
This is the second time her stalls have gone up in flames. The last incident, she recounted was in 2016 where she lost property worth less than Sh250,000 and in her own words, she “easily bounced back”.
Right next to her, Humphrey Maina, 32, squatted, looking forlornly at the vastly scorched two-acre piece of plot that housed hundreds of stalls before the weekend fire.
Traders and members of the public scavenge through debris to salvage valuables after fire broke out at Gikomba market in Nairobi on May 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
He, unlike the traders, was crying a different cry. Though not a trader, he made a living from ferrying goods for the traders and customers alike at the shoe section of the market.
“Sunday mornings are usually the busiest for us because that is when most of the stock comes in and therefore, there are a lot of goods to carry for the stall owners and customers who at times want us to take the goods to their shops in the surrounding estates or lorries,” he said.
With the ghastly fire, Mr Maina said he did not know how he would face his wife and children empty-handed later on in the day.
Traders and residents scavenge through debris to salvage valuables after fire broke out at Gikomba market in Nairobi on May 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
For Mtwarif Kibet, 35, a water vendor at Gikomba, the fire not only brought down the wooden stalls, but also burnt the water pipes that supplied water to his 10,000 litre tank- the only reservoir relied on by the hundreds of traders to quench their thirst and cleaning of their wares.
“Had the firefighters responded earlier, so many things could have been salvaged, but that is not the case. I have to find money to repair the damages inflicted on my water pipes,” he said.
However, early Sunday morning, Kamukunji Member of Parliament, Yusuf Hassan said that county firefighters and volunteers responded promptly to combat the fire.
“We appreciate the quick action by emergency services but we must address the root causes of these recurring fires,” he said.
Traders and members of the public scavenge through debris to salvage valuables after fire broke out at Gikomba market in Nairobi on May 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
By Sunday evening, the cause of the fire remained unknown even as the traders raised concerns on the increasing frequency with which such incidents have been happening.
Barely two months ago, on April 1, another fire broke out around 3am at the “Kwa Mbao” section of the market destroying the entire area and even spread to the nearby bus station. Several traders blamed a faulty electrical wiring in the area saying it was the most likely cause of the fire.
Exactly a month before the April fire, another fire incident razed down sections of Kwa Mbao.
These happenings have caught the attention of senior government officials including the Deputy President, Kithure Kindiki, who on April 9, directed the police and other investigative agencies to look into the recurring market fires in Nairobi.
Members of a religious sect walk past burning stalls after fire broke out at Gikomba market in Nairobi on May 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“The government has instructed relevant agencies to investigate the cause of frequent infernos in markets within Nairobi, including Gikomba and Toi Market, and to provide comprehensive, long term solutions to prevent occurrences,” Prof Kindiki stated.
Despite the latest scourge of their wares at Gikomba, Ms Muthoni said they will not relent, adding that they will “defeat whoever is trying to kick us out of our shops”.
True to her words, several carpenters were already at the scene, battling the dense smoke coming from the dying flames, rebuilding the damaged stalls.
“Much as we get jobs for rebuilding these stalls after such fire incidents, this is not the kind of job we love doing. It is very wrong for someone to burn businesses and go unpunished,” Jeremy Otieno, a carpenter in the market, said.
