Traders counting losses as cartels burn Gikomba Market yet again – Look! SAKAJA must stop talking and start acting.

 Thursday, November 24, 2022 – It is yet another sad day for traders in Gikomba after they work up to a burning market.

Firefighters arrived too late but managed to contain the fire with traders counting millions in losses

Gitothi Muriuki, one of the businessmen, explained how he arrived at the market only to be met with flames and smoke.

“I arrived at Gikomba at 4.40 am as usual since I have a business here. I usually sell bales to my customers, but today was unusual as I found fire having engulfed part of the market,” he stated.

The cause of the fire was yet to be established with early reports pointing at a faulty electrical connection or a jiko, but according to reliable sources, the fire may have been caused by cartels who are fighting to have land in Gikimba.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja also previously alluded to the cartels fighting for the land at Gikomba to be behind the perennial fires at the market.

He vowed to defend Gikomba to the last drop of his blood.

“Gikomba is public land and we will build a wall around it. It belongs to the people of Nairobi. We will defend it to the end from grabbers,” he stated then.

The morning incident affected the Jua kali area next to Muthurwa primary school, which deals with second-hand clothes and hawkers’ merchandise goods.

“Thirty minutes after arriving, police officers and firefighters arrived and contained the situation although a lot of property could not be saved,” he noted.