Traders Counting Losses After Another Fire Guts Down Gikomba Market

Traders at Gikomba market in Nairobi are counting losses after a fire razed down property worth millions of shillings on Wednesday.

The inferno broke out at the southern part of the market, opposite Jua Kali a few minutes past midnight, according to witnesses.

Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan said firefighters from various government units including the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) responded and contained the fire.

The incident comes barely three months after the same market went up in flames, leaving a trail of destruction.

Following the August 6th fire incident, the government promised to install CCTV cameras as part of efforts to deal with frequent fires at the market.

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, who toured the facility after the fire, directed the contractor in charge of the installations to complete the job within seven days.

“We will improve on the lighting, we have directed the regional team to map 10 lighting points and for those lights, we will add CCTV cameras,” he said.

He also indicated that the government was seeking to identify individuals believed to be behind the recurrent fires at the market.

“We in government do not believe these fires are natural. We believe that there are some people who think that by displacing the business people here they will have an opportunity to develop this land on selfish grounds,” said Kibicho.

In August, over 900 Gikomba traders sued the Nairobi County government demanding Sh20 billion in compensation over frequent fires at the market.

The traders want the county government to pay them for direct financial loss and compensation for loss of business opportunity and re-establishment costs.

They listed 15 fire incidences since 2015, saying the frequent occurrences show that the county government has failed to take adequate precautions for their safety and that of the public while doing their business at Gikomba.

The traders also cited a fire incident that occurred in June 2018, killing 15 people and injuring many others.