Property worth millions of shillings was destroyed last night in another suspicious fire that targeted market stalls in Mutindwa, Buruburu.
According to locals, the fire started in one of the stalls before spreading to all of them at around 2am, leaving a trail of destruction, devastated traders and ashy remains of goods stored for sale.
Those who spoke said they suspected the fire was an arson attack set with petrol to force the vendors to vacate the space they have occupied between Bidii Primary School and KAG East University.
They also claimed that a residents’ welfare group had been campaigning for the stalls to be removed from the area, describing them as a breeding ground for insecurity.
“We have had cases in the past where bulldozers were sent to demolish our stalls to force us out on the grounds that the area has become a breeding ground for criminals from Kayole, Huruma, Ndandora and other slums where most traders come from, but that never worked because this space was allocated to us by the county government. What we saw last night was a first, we have never been torched before, this is a new low,” a trader confessed.
Paul Anyumba, a shoe trader, said he received a call at 3:30am informing him that a fire had broken out at the stalls.
He said that by the time he arrived, the fire had spread so fast and so close to his stall that he was unable to save any of his stock.
“I watched the shop go down, reducing to ashes everything I depend on for my livelihood. I have no alternative source of income and I am asking the government to help us rebuild our stalls,” he said.
He added that he estimated that over 1,500 traders who depend on the market on a daily basis had suffered similar losses.
“All of them have lost property, which cumulatively amounts to millions in the current terrible economic situation,” he added.
Francis Mutua, a cassava trader, said that when he arrived at the scene at 3am, a large part of the stalls were already burnt. He claimed that the fire engines arrived later and the first one did not have enough water to extinguish the fire.
“This fire would not have spread this far if the fire engines had arrived on time, secondly our President promised us Sh300 million during the campaigns to rebuild these stalls, let him do it now as a show of concern,” he demanded.
Freddy Mboya, who rented a stall in the space a month ago to sell household items, said he resigned from a government job in the hope of making a better living through business, but before he could break even, he lost everything in the night fire.
“I lost goods worth Sh300,000 and my four children are waiting for me to pay their school fees for both high school and primary school but where do I go for help?” he wondered.
When Nation visited the scene on Monday morning, our team found Kenya Army and Nairobi County fire engines putting out the last flames of the fire, giving the traders a chance to salvage their iron sheets and other building materials that could be saved.
Nairobi County’s head of disaster management, Mr Brwamwel Simiyu, said the planning department would design the stall, while Embakasi West MP David Mwenje promised the traders material support to help them rebuild their stalls.
Last week, another suspicious fire razed stalls in Toi market, resulting in property losses in what has become a trend of fires whose cause is never known.
The results of investigations into the incessant fires, suspected to be arson attacks, in Nairobi’s markets are yet to be made public, raising questions as to why the authorities have failed to put a permanent stop to them.
