Traders eviction draws anger, condemnation in Nyandarua
Nyandarua Woman Rep Faith Gitau (pictured) has condemned the County government for evicting small business traders in Ol Kalou town, saying the move contradicts the ruling party’s bottom-up economic spirit.
She said any issue, particularly evictions, affecting the small traders should be handled in a humane way since are the county’s taxpayers.
She said this after visiting traders whose structures were demolished by the County government at the weekend.
“These traders were not resisting relocation. They wished for proper and structured communication with the County government as opposed to being treated as second-class citizens. I urge those involved to execute it in a human way guided by proper channels of dialogue. Anything contrary to that defeats the very logic of the Bottom-Up spirit that anchored our political campaigns,” she said.
The traders woke up on Saturday morning to find their structures flattened by the County askaris. The demolition was meant to end standoff between traders who sell their wares inside the local retail market and their competitors who had erected makeshift structures outside the market.
The traders whose structures were demolished said they were surprised by the brutal action of the County government “because there was an on-going conversation on how the traders were going to stop doing business outside the market.”
