Stalls demolished in Malindi as traders clash with county over eviction

Road side traders in Malindi town, Kilifi County are counting losses after their portable stalls were demolished by county security enforcement officers for defying orders to vacate.

The traders who deal in perishable goods complained that they were not given enough time to vacate the road side places and only woke up on Thursday to find their portable stalls pulled down.

The incident led to demonstrations with traders burning used tyers on roads leading to the town center and later marched to the Malindi Municipality offices for audience.

Speaking to journalists after holding a meeting with municipality officials, the traders led by Faida Kalama and Nicholas Mukuna said that they were ready to vacate the roadside spaces but they should be relocated to areas where there was human traffic to facilitate their trade.

Faida said that the demolition had occasioned them huge losses with some of the enforcement officers stealing their wares during the demolition exercise.

“We are very angry with the Malindi municipality for demolishing our portable stalls without even listening to us but it is only through our MCA that we got someone to listen to us. I hope that we will be given a strategic place to ply our trade,” she said.

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Mukuna on his part thanked Shella ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) Twahir Abdulrahman and the Malindi Sub County Administrator Dadu Chome for according them audience.

“We pay cess to the county government of Kilifi but we are shocked that the same county government came to demolish our businesses where we get money to pay the cess. I want to thank our MCA for intervening to stop the demolition since many more portable stalls were being targeted,” he said.

Twahir on his part cautioned municipality officials from demolishing people’s businesses without giving them an alternative place to ply their trade.

“There will be no more unnecessary demolition in Malindi again because we have agreed with the traders and municipal officials that they should only conduct demolitions if their targets have refused to move to a provided alternative trading space,” he said.

He added that the county government will compensate the traders affected and allow them to continue operating until a suitable permanent and secure place is constructed for them.

Dadu on his part said that they will continue engaging the traders until an amicable solution was found so that demolitions can be a thing of the past within Malindi municipality.

“The stalls were demolished after eviction timelines lapsed but they are angry and I promise them that it will never happen again. We have formed a committee consisting of municipality officials, the traders and the office of the MCA so that we can explore avenues to resolve this issue for good,” he said.