Sakaja: No more hawking on sidewalks, roads within CBD

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja speaks during a consultative meeting at City Hall, Nairobi. [Samson Wire, Standard]

Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja has banned hawking on the roads and sidewalks within the city centre.

The new directive was made by the Governor during a consultative meeting with inspectorate officers from CBD and hawkers representatives.

"There will be no hawking on the roads. In fact, I'm enforcing it from tomorrow morning, even around the bus station, I will not allow that," said Sakaja.

He said the move will decongest the city centre where residents have been raising concerns over the influx of hawkers from afternoon hours.

The communication comes days after the County government conducted a crackdown to eject hawkers in a move that was widely criticised after some officers destroyed some wares sold by hawkers.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja with city-based hawkers' representatives during a consultative meeting at City Hall, Nairobi. [Samson Wire, Standard]

For this reason, the governor called for fairness and that that operation must be taken with a lot of significance.

During the meeting with County Askaris, fondly referred to as Kanjo Askaris, they were urged to always be uniform.

Sakaja said: "All our officers must be in uniform. I don't want anyone operating without a uniform unless it is part of an operation by a plain clothes team."

Earlier this week, Starehe Member of Parliament Amos Mwago called upon the Nairobi county government to compensate hawkers whose goods were destroyed by County Askaris.

Several traders lost their wares following an exercise by County enforcement to eject hawkers from the city centre on October 19, 2023.

"No trader should be treated like that...they all have rights to be treated with dignity as they were promised," Mwago stated.