Hawkers sell clothing items on a lane off River Road in Nairobi on January 11, 2024.
Nairobi City MCAs have passed a motion seeking to relocate traders from the pavements and streets in the city centre to the back lanes and designated places in an effort to ease congestion.
The motion tabled by Umoja 1 Ward Representative Mark Mugambi mandates the county executive led by Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja to establish pop-up market spaces at the back lanes and register all the traders before issuing them with licences.
The motion adopted on Tuesday also mandates the county government to ensure the safety and security of the traders as they will be operating on a 24-hour basis.
It seeks to bring into force the Nairobi City County Pop Up Markets and Street Vending Act 2019.
Hawkers sell clothes on a lane off River Road in Nairobi on January 11, 2024.
“As a capital city, for a long time we have failed to ensure that the vendors are regulated. Most of the enforcement officers have taken advantage and are collecting money every day from the traders and harassing them. We want to ensure that they operate within a regulated environment and that there can be mobility within our city,” Mr Mugambi said.
The act, which was passed in 2019, has never been implemented as the county government struggles to contain street vendors who have taken over the streets hindering mobility in the capital city.
The act provides that each of the street vendors is issued with a licence by the county executive committee member and that the county will build a database of all the street vendors which will include their contact details, location and the commodities that they are selling.
Before relocating the traders, the county executive member is also mandated to gazette and demarcate the areas into those that are restriction free, restricted and areas where vending is not allowed.
The designated places for the traders should also be published in at least two newspapers of national circulation.
Any trader who violates the vending regulations such as lacking a license for operation is liable to a fine of Sh30,000 or a term of imprisonment of six months or both.
In 2023, Mr Sakaja launched an ambitious plan of relocating the hawkers to the back lanes but it was resisted by a section of the hawkers who said the conditions in the spots are deplorable.
Hawkers sell their wares on a pedestrians walkway in Nairobi County on October 6, 2024.
This is despite the project receiving an allocation of Sh100 million for the construction of shades and improvement of the working conditions.
In September this year, the Acting County Secretary Godfrey Akumali said that the devolved unit is planning to use the inspectorate department to ensure the hawkers are moved to the back streets.
“We were having a lapse but we are going to ensure strict adherence to the regulations. Majority of the back-streets are already done and we are currently working with the hawkers to ensure we have a smooth transition. We have already informed them that each of the will occupy the pallets by the standard size that we have set,” Mr Akumali said.
Residents of Nairobi purchase second-hand clothes and bags from hawkers on Accra Road, Nairobi on December 18, 2023.
However, according to the Starehe Hawkers Association Chairperson John Wamawaya the relocation project failed to take off after the county failed to construct the backlanes as agreed.
“We had agreed that they will first begin by cleaning the backlanes, putting cabros and lighting. We reached mid-way and they told us there are no funds that we should do it by ourselves. In some of them the hawkers took the initiative of buying the iron sheets because the county government abandoned the project,” Mr Wamawaya said.
He also said that after the project failed, they agreed with the county government to have strict hawking hours and that they operate from Tom Mboya street backwards.
