Governor Wa Iria champions for hawkers rights
Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria addresses journalists at Sarova Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, on March 7, 2018. He is fighting for the recognition of hawkers. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Hawkers, especially in Nairobi and Uasin Gishu, have been protesting harassment by county askaris.
- Mr Wa Iria said hawkers and street vendors should be mainstreamed into organisations like the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
County governments will have to give hawkers a 30-day notice before evicting them if a bill tabled in the Senate is passed.
The bill also proposes the establishment of the Hawkers and Street Vendors Authority to facilitate the registration, regulation and monitoring of trade.
Hawkers across the country will also be recognised as legitimate traders if a bill proposed by Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria is adopted.
The 2018 Hawkers and Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods) Bill is aimed at providing a legal framework for recognition, protection and regulation of hawkers and street vendors in all counties as primary pillars of economic and social development by putting in place an identification mechanism and minimum standards of operation.
HARASSMENT
The bill comes at a time when Nairobi residents are decrying a move by hawkers to overrun the central business district.
Hawkers, especially in Nairobi and Uasin Gishu, have also been protesting harassment by county askaris.
“They contribute over Sh3.6 trillion annually to our country’s economy, but they are treated as criminals and it is time we stop criminalising the informal sector,” said the governor at Sarova Stanley Hotel in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Mr Wa Iria said the bill, which was presented to Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka on Tuesday, will see hawking legitimised as a business, structured from the counties to the national level and protected.
LICENCE
The hawkers will however have to apply and acquire a registration certificate from the agency, which will allow them to apply for a licence from their respective county governments.
“A person designated by the authority shall be the registrar for the purpose of registering all hawkers and street vendors operating in Kenya,” the bill states.
He said hawkers must be recognised as economic facilitators in Kenya, pointing out that in developed countries, hawking has been structured and it has yielded success.
“They are even in developed countries, but they have been structured. In this country, they are being treated as pests and criminals and their life is like that of an antelope,” he said.
TIME
Mr Wa Iria said hawkers and street vendors should also be mainstreamed into national business organisations like the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The bill proposes trade zones in addition to setting up of specific times that hawkers will be allowed to conduct business in cities and major towns besides training for the traders.
From next week, the governor said, they will start engaging hawkers across the counties and other important stakeholders, including those from academia, to get views from them aimed at finding a lasting solution to the issue.
“It will also settle the discontent of hawkers when it comes to the prescribed fees and charges that they pay which they have often complained are arbitrary,” Mr Edward Muriu, the team leader of MMC Africa Law, said.
