Hundreds of traders at the Fig Tree Market in Ngara, Nairobi, on Wednesday took to the streets to protest the demolition of their stalls, shops, and kiosks, which they claim was done overnight without prior notice. According to reports, more than 600 traders were affected when bulldozers, allegedly accompanied by armed police officers, moved in during the night and brought down structures that had served as business premises for years. The demolitions are said to have targeted stalls erected on land claimed to be privately owned and earmarked for redevelopment into modern commercial and residential buildings. Traders expressed outrage, saying they were not given adequate time to relocate or secure their merchandise, leading to massive losses running into millions of shillings.
The demonstrations, which began early in the morning, saw protesters barricade sections of Limuru Road, causing a major traffic snarl-up between Ngara and Pangani. Some traders lit bonfires and chanted slogans demanding justice and compensation for their destroyed property. The situation quickly attracted police deployment to disperse the crowd and restore order. Witnesses reported running battles between law enforcement officers and irate traders as authorities tried to reopen the blocked road.
Traders accused the county government of neglecting their plight, insisting that they had been paying daily levies to Nairobi City County and should, therefore, have been protected from what they termed as illegal evictions. They further appealed to Governor Johnson Sakaja to intervene and help them secure alternative trading spaces, arguing that the demolition had rendered hundreds of families jobless overnight. The business owners claimed that earlier attempts to engage both county and national government officials over the ownership dispute had failed, leaving them uncertain about their future.
Officials linked to the demolition have maintained that the operation was part of an ongoing plan to reclaim and redevelop parcels of land whose leases have expired or been irregularly occupied. However, traders dismissed the move as insensitive and poorly timed, given the tough economic conditions currently facing small-scale businesses. The incident has reignited a long-standing debate over land ownership and the protection of informal traders in Nairobi, many of whom operate on contested spaces. By late afternoon, calm had been restored in Ngara, though traders vowed to continue seeking justice and compensation for the destruction of their livelihoods.
