Hawker clearance leads to Nairobi street clashes

The streets in the central area of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, were on Tuesday wracked by violent clashes between council workers and police on the one hand, and street hawkers on the other hand during and after a crackdown on illegal street trading on River Road and Latema Road, the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) reported on Wednesday.

Central Nairobi was "a no-go zone" during two hours of early evening pitched battles as the street traders gathered at the River Road and Accra Road junctions to battle city council "askaris" (guards) and police officers with stones and other missiles, the report stated.

The police fired tear gas at the traders, a number of police and hawkers were injured, and the fracas forced passers-by - many of whom happened to be leaving their offices at the time - to seek refuge in shops and other buildings, it added.

The hawkers resumed their normal street trading after the police and council workers boarded lorries and left the conflict area, according to KBC.

The difficulties presented by Kenya's unlicensed street traders have been illustrated by recent violent clashes in the coastal city of Mombasa, and the chaotic, often violent, situation in the country's other urban centres, as highlighted by IRIN on Monday, 14 January.

An estimated 65 percent of jobs in Kenya are in the informal sector of the economy, and hawking is among the most vibrant activities, but this informal, and illegal, street trading has also become a recipe for frequent confrontations between the traders, local officials, council askaris and police.

In Mombasa just before the New Year, the demolition of roadside business structures by council workers and hired youths ignited running battles which brought police in riot gear into the streets, claimed one life and left scores of people injured.

Scenes in which hawkers have clashed with the provincial administration have become worryingly common throughout Kenya, according to one observer. Although hawking was defined as a public nuisance by council bylaws, some local politicians were wont to issue populist remarks allowing hawkers to ply their trade, he added.

The hawkers have demanded recognition and some accommodation of their needs, while local authorities, while accepting that the traders had to survive, insist that bylaws had to be enforced in order to protect the interests of residents and rate-paying businesses.

The situation is some extent similar to the problem of slum settlements in urban areas, in that the central government has devolved responsibility to local authorities, without the latter having any set policies or practices to guide them in the matter, according to observers.

Meanwhile, Nairobi City Council had been fighting a losing battle, with hordes of hawkers blocking the city streets, impeding vehicles and pedestrians, KBC reported on Wednesday.