Saturday June 23, 2018
A group of Eastleigh businessmen have complained of hawkers’ harassment and extortion.The group led by businessman Ali Mohammed said some hawkers have been harassing them and have built their stalls right outside their premises.Ali is a private developer linked to the alleged “grabbed” Eastleigh hawkers market.The stalls in contention are along the contested Eastleigh Hawkers market land.He said the hawkers have been using different government agencies to harass them yet they stopped construction on the contested piece of land more than three years ago.He alleged business rivals from the Somali community have been sponsoring the hawkers to harass him and his associates.After the market was taken over by a private developer, the hawkers held persistent demonstrations during Governor Evans Kideros regime.This forced the Ombudsman to intervene.In his report in 2016, the Ombudsman asked both the National government and the county government of Nairobi to ensure the land is reverted back to the county government so that its used as a hawkers market.