Blow to "Handshake" projects as court halts construction of market

Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o in an interview on KTN’s Point Blank. [Wilberforce Okwiri/Standard]

Plans to build a Sh350 million market in Kisumu has been dealt a blow.

This is after the Land and Environment Court sitting in Kisumu ruled that the parcel of land on which the market was to be built belongs to Jua Kali artisans.

The national and county governments were planning to build a market named after President Uhuru Kenyatta in the wake of the handshake between him and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

The decision by the court is a major blow to Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s administration in its quest to relocate more than 10,000 traders whose stalls were demolished to pave way for the port.

“In case the market is constructed, the plaintiffs will suffer loss. The parcel belongs to them and they have established a case against the respondents,” said Justice Antony Obwayo in his ruling.

Lakefront project

The market is also an extension of the lakefront project, which had been tipped to become the new home of thousands of traders displaced in the renovation of the Kisumu port.

The artisans moved to court in a bid to stop the county government from encroaching on the land to construct a market complex dubbed “Uhuru Business Park Market Complex”.

They had accused Nyong’o’s administration of proposing to construct the market on their parcel of land without consulting them.

In a matter filed under a certificate of urgency, the artisans had, among others, sought a temporary injunction restraining the county government from erecting structures on the land.

They had listed the county government, the City Manager, the Attorney General, the county commissioner as well as the Transport Cabinet Secretary as respondents.