- Sakaja said his administration has a plan for hawkers.
- The county boss stated that they have already registered the hawkers.
Image: BRIAN SIMIYU
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has explained why hawkers will remain in the Central Business District.
Speaking on Friday, Sakaja said they are people who have decided to earn a living in an honest way and they should be respected.
He said what they do is not different from what people who work in offices do, which is fending for their children.
The governor said there needs to be a balance because some of the people who complain about hawkers do it because they demean the work of others.
"On hawkers, we have to balance. There is someone who will complain about hawkers while he is wearing a suit from work to fend for his children but because he has had a little challenge accessing a matatu home, he will say these hawkers should not be there," Sakaja said.
"It's like looking down on someone else's work. Someone who has decided to earn an honest living instead of becoming a thief."
He further said the reason the city has continued to experience the hawkers' challenge is because subsequent administrations failed to build markets for these people.
The governor said the markets would give the hawkers opportunities to do business and create jobs for many others.
"The reason we have hawkers in Nairobi is because we have always failed as government to build markets. We have failed to give them opportunities to work," he said.
Sakaja explained that his administration has a plan for hawkers and in the next few weeks, they will be operating from the city's backstreets.
The county boss stated that they have already registered the hawkers and each one of them will be assigned a slot.
"For now what we have done is we have registered them and prepared the 29 backstreets in town for them. We are currently reviewing the registration... Their work should be respected," Sakaja said.