MP Urges Gov’t to Declare Gikomba Market a Disaster Area After Saturday’s Fire Incident

Kamukunji MP Yussuf Hassan has urged President Ruto and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja to declare Gikomba market a disaster area after another blaze destroyed sections of the market on Saturday morning.

The fire, which destroyed property worth millions of shillings, broke out at a dispensary in the Gashosho area at around 1 a.m., according to the Kenya Red Cross.

It later spread to parts of Gorofani and Bondeni estates that border the market before it was contained by firefighters from Nairobi County. No casualties were reported.

“I’m appealing to President William Ruto and Governor Sakaja to declare Gikomba a disaster,” MP Hassan said on Twitter.

“They should set up a special fire fund, and provide urgent assistance to the victims of the fire. They need help to rebuild and restock and get back on their feet again,” he added.

In the past 10 years, more than 20 fire incidents have been reported at Gikomba, including a June 2018 inferno that claimed the lives of 15 people and injured scores of others.

Following a fire incident in August last year, the government promised to install CCTV cameras as part of efforts to deal with frequent fires at the market.

Outgoing Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho also vowed to have the individuals believed to be behind the recurrent fires at East Africa’s largest open-air market arrested and prosecuted.

Last year, 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.