Traders dance with death along highways as they abandon markets for quick road sales

A truck screeches to a halt, crushing several watermelons on the roadside, forcing three women to jump into a drainage system to escape being crushed next to the Kisumu Bus Park, along the busy Kisumu-Nairobi Highway.

A group of traders scream momentarily and start hurling insults at the truck driver, before going on with their businesses casually, despite government directives to move their businesses away from the roadside.

The directive by the government followed the killing of 53 traders and injuring of several others s in a road accident at Londiani Junction in Kericho County at the end of last month.

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen proposed a raft of measures, including the installation of cameras in vehicles and the relocation of all roadside markets.

Murkomen urged counties to partner with the State to construct markets off the highways. This, he said, would be done through the intergovernmental framework, as the Kenya Highway Authority (KenNHA) embark on the construction of access roads to the markets.

Enforcement officers

Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai also issued a directive banning roadside hawking. The governor instructed enforcement officers to implement the directive in other locations, including Sossiot along the Kapsoit-Sondu road and Roret along the Ngoina-Nyamira road.

Even with the directive, traders along major roads across the country have remained adamant and are continuing with business as usual. To them, relocating their businesses spells doom for their families.

They have chosen to continue flirting with death as they compete for customers on highways. And every Sunday, traders along the Nakuru-Kapsabet highway crowd the Soko Mjinga market, oblivious of the risks.

It’s one of the busiest market centres in the region where farmers sell agricultural commodities and hawkers auction second-hand clothes, and utensils, among other items.

They have ignored a modern market established 100 metres away by the county government in 2015.

Timothy Maina, one of the hawkers, said he has never thought of any eventualities that might befall him due to speeding motorists and bodaboda operators.

“We secured spaces and surrendered to whatever the fate. No one can know when to fall victim to an accident, and we pray that it cannot happen to us,” he said, claiming that the open-air market has not been designated and organised well for business premises. Hundreds of residents throng the market every Sunday to sell their agricultural commodities.

The county had initially banned the traders from selling along the road, but they argued the new market cannot accommodate all of them.

Mary Chepekoech, one of the residents, claimed that the six-acre piece of land initially under a mundane municipality started as an agricultural centre and has grown and become a market grappling with the shortage of business infrastructures.

“We do not have facilities to shelter, and we risk our lives along the road, a strategic place to get customers. But the government move to evacuate us from the area will be good if we get a conducive place to do business,” she stated

For Esther Waithera, who sells vegetables around Mau Summit, the roadside business is what has sustained her. Waithera said she has been in the business for 18 years.

She described herself as a hustler and reminded President William Ruto to honour his promise of supporting them.

Josephat Kimang’a, another trader said they will continue operating on the roadside since the alternative market is yet to be constructed. “If we are relocated, the business will go down. We have not been provided with an alternative place,” he said.

He pleaded with the government not to relocate them, adding that most of those who will be affected are the youths. In Kisumu County, attempts by Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s administration to force the traders to relocate to the newly constructed Sh600 million Uhuru Business Complex that is lying idle have been futile. Traders have continued to hawk their wares on the roadsides, oblivious of the dangers they are exposing themselves to.

Within counties such as Migori, Nyamira, Kisumu, and Homa Bay, several traders have lost their lives after being crushed by speeding vehicles in the roadside markets.

For Migori town, about 20 people have perished after drivers lost control of their vehicles and rammed into traders. One of the accidents that happened on April 8, took away the lives of 11 people.

Barely a month later, on May 10, four more lives were lost after defiant traders returned to the roadside market. Another truck lost control and rammed into the traders.

But still, the trend continues.

Traders are still scrambling for space along the busy Migori-Isebania road to sell their wares.

Migori County Secretary Oscar Olima said most of the traders have complied, save for a few who are still defiant, and they are using enforcement officers to ensure compliance.

In the Nyanza region, some markets built by State in collaboration with county governments have been abandoned, as traders continue to risk their lives on the roads.

In Kisumu, two multi-million-shillings markets built in Awasi and Pap-Onditi are wasting away in rust and dirt even after their completion as traders continue to risk their lives along the roadside. The traders claim their customers do not prefer the hectic nature of accessing normal markets, hence, the reason why they are insisting on camping on roads.

A spot check by The Standard at Ikonge market in Nyamira North yesterday revealed the severity of the issue as traders scrambled to find space to display their wares. At the main highway connecting the town with Ekerenyo and Chemosit in Kericho, it is a mad rush of hawkers, who have paraded their goods along the road for motorists to buy.

Their goods are smartly displayed just at the edge of the driveway. “We have never had anyone involved in an accident in this town. We are always very careful, and at the spot where we operate, cars move at a slow speed, therefore minimising any danger of an accident,” said Priscah Kemunto.

Less than a year ago, a bus driver lost control of the vehicle along Ekerenyo market and rammed into five roadside kiosks, killing five people instantly while many others escaped with injuries.

A few months later, kiosks destroyed due to the accident have since been reconstructed, and business has returned to normal, in total oblivion of the danger that lurks.

The situation is the same at Nyabite market, within Nyamira town, where traders compete for space with motorists.

County Commissioner

The traders operate on the roadside on Friday and Sunday, even as a market constructed by the county a few metres from them remains unoccupied. At Keroka, Kebirigo, Miruka, and Chepilat markets, the scenario is the same; traders doing business at the roadside in oblivion of any possible danger. Nyamira County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha said the government has already mapped out the markets where traders could be more exposed to avert dangers.

In Homa Bay County, despite several accidents reported at Kendu Bay junction, traders are still selling their wares along the road.

Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims Secretary Abdul Masud, who is a resident of the town, said more bumps should be erected on the road to reduce the speed at which vehicles move into the town. In Murang’a County roadside markets thrive despite concerns raised by motorists as traders disregard regulations with the busiest sections located along the Muranga – Nairobi Highway.

Traders have set up makeshift structures in Makuyu, Kenol, Kaharati and Mbombo, where the vendors operate with impunity, running after cars that slow down or standing in the middle of the highway. Most traders are selling rice, fruits and vegetables and carry them in bundles or bags. On Saturday, seven people in Murang’a town were hit by a drunkard motorist along the hospital road.

This happened a day after Murang’a Municipality officers led by Town Manager Ms Beatrice Gicheha ordered the removal of the structures erected on the roadside.

Peter Njuguna, a motorist plying along Murang’a- Thika road, said there is a need for the County to take action against the traders.

In Meru roadside, markets are located in several trading centres within Imenti, Tigania and Igembe regions.

In South Imenti, Ntharene, famous for its big banana market, Traders spilt onto the road where they dash at vehicles on the highway.

Here, you find trucks being loaded with bananas, with women selling the product inches from the Meru-Embu highway.

At Maili Tatu in Igembe Central, people sell roast maize, yam, and miraa metres from the Maua-Meru highway.

“We are not the problem because we do not have designated markets for our businesses. The government has to provide us with conducive market areas. What we want are safe areas to operate,” said Stanley Koome, a trader.

In Nyeri, roadside markets thrive despite the dangers they expose the traders along Nyeri -Nyahururu highway.

At Kiawara onions and tomatoes, traders rush onto the busy highway to sell to the travellers plying that route.

Along the Nyeri- Nanyuki road at Chaka town, traders struggle to sell farm produce, including vegetables and fruits, to the travellers along the busy highway.

Still, on the same Nyeri-Karatina highway at Ihwagi dam, traders have opted to venture into the arrowroots business, harvested from the nearby farms and set up temporary structures.

 Along the Karatina -Nairobi highway at Kangocho market, traders rush to the busy highway to sell bananas, tomatoes, and other fruits.  

[Report by Julius Chepkwony, Stanley Ongwae, Anne Atieno, Sharon Owino and James Omoro, Boniface Gikandi, Purity Mwangi, Phares Mutembei and Edward Kosut]