One of Governor Johnson Sakaja's manifestos when ascending into power was allowing hawkers back into the CBD, and that he did, much to the chagrin of the normal pedestrians, whose possession of the sidewalks was now lost to the hawkers.
In addition to that, the governor converted certain sections in the CBD into market areas on weekends, with tents erected to act as stalls. This includes the area around the Kenya National Archives.
On Sunday, I found myself walking around town, and got a chance to witness all this in play. The whole of Tom Mboya Street, from the Fire Station to Afya Centre was lined up with hawkers, some places having as much as three hawkers across the width of the sidewalk.
When walking along Tom Mboya Street, from the junction with Ronald Ngala Street to the junction with Luthuli Avenue, one thing stood out. All the hawkers in that area were youth. Young men particularly, all selling either shoes or clothes.
Having been around university/college graduates, I am cognisant of the resignation of fate, after failure to find any employment opportunity, to resort to selling mitumba. It is sad to see brains proficient enough in either STEM or hospitality or business waste away in the streets. And this is not to demean the selling of mitumba. No, just like any other trade, it is, of course, necessary to us.
All I'm against is seeing university graduates, for lack of employment, resort to that. One, it shows a failure in our country's system. Two, it propagates the country’s inclination to only being a service industry, rather than being a manufacturing industry. We are being consumers more than we are being producers, and that, in the grand scheme of things, does us more harm than good.
This leads to a shrinking economy, and until we get out of that rut, our country will never develop. Build industries. Create employment for the youth. Increase people’s standards of living.
Qwani founder