Traders operating along Kamiti Road and the Roysambu stage on Thika Road woke up to a shocking sight on Thursday after a night demolition brought down their businesses.
According to witnesses, the stalls and business structures were demolished from around 2 am, leaving hundreds counting losses.
When The Standard visited the scene on Thursday morning, traders were combing through piles of iron sheets, broken timber and scattered merchandise, trying to salvage whatever remained of their investments.
Others had already begun reconstructing makeshift stalls from the debris, determined to resume business despite the uncertainty.
Amid the rubble, food vendors whose small roadside eateries had also been damaged quietly moved through the debris, serving meals to fellow traders.
Many traders claim the demolition was carried out without adequate notice.
Mercy Mwari, a vegetable vendor and small eatery operator who has run her business along Kamiti Road for nearly three decades, said the destruction had wiped out her only source of income.
“I have been here since 1998. We have lived in fear of demolition for years, but Roysambu does not even have a market. Even now, we do not know where we will go,” she said.
Mwari said her business had sustained her family for decades.
“I sell vegetables and run a small eatery. It has sustained me and helped me educate my children, though they still do not have jobs. They help me here. The government should not treat us like people who do not belong to this country,” she added.
According to her, the demolition began suddenly at night. She said there had been no official eviction notice and that communication had only come through “rumours”.
“There had been rumours, but they came at around 2 am. There was no notice,” she said.
Grace Ndirangu, who has operated in the area for about ten years, said traders had nowhere to relocate their businesses.
“I have been here for ten good years. We do not have a market. Let them show us where the market is, where are we supposed to go?” she asked.
Ndirangu said the businesses support many families and help educate traders’ children, even as she pointed a finger at President William Ruto’s administration for neglecting them.
“The President said the government is for mama mboga, but where are we supposed to go? I sell water to nearby hotels and that is how I pay rent, school fees and support my parents,” she said.
Ezekiel Ogema, who sells motorcycle spare parts, said he learnt about the demolition through a phone call while away from his stall.
“I was shocked to receive a call telling me that my stall had been demolished,” he said.
Ogema believes the traders were treated unfairly and denied an opportunity to relocate.
“This is a place where people do business to survive. If they had given me notice, I would have moved and opened my stall somewhere else. Now everything is gone,” he said.
Youth traders were also heavily affected by the demolition.
John Otieno, a young clothes vendor who operates at the Roysambu stage along Thika Road, said the destroyed stall was his only source of income after finishing school and unsuccessfully searching for a job.
“The place where I earn my income has been demolished,” he said. “They should have shown us an alternative place. As young people, we are very saddened.”
Otieno, visibly emotional, said clothing stock worth about Sh37,000 was “all gone” when he arrived at his stall.
“I finished school and there was no job, so I started this business. I do not know where to start,” he said, even as he admitted there had been notice, which he said provided “inadequate time to relocate”.
Another victim, Josephine Adhiambo, lost her job after the trader she worked for lost all the clothes and shoes she sold in the demolition.
She said they had recently restocked the stall before the demolition.
“We had just restocked shoes, 87 pairs as well as clothes and 23 dummies, and everything is gone,” she said.
Adhiambo said the demolition started late at night and caught traders completely unprepared.
“Even the day before, the President was in Roysambu. If there was a notice, they should have engaged us and worked with the authorities to find an immediate solution,” she said.
“Right now, I do not even know where to begin. Nothing was saved,” she added.
The demolition comes amid ongoing clearance of traders operating along Thika Road, a move that has sparked outrage among affected traders.
In a notice issued on February 9, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) notified “all roadside traders along the Thika Superhighway at Roysambu (both directions) and Githurai (Nairobi direction) sections to clear their wares from road reserves within seven days of this notice.”