Traders found themselves in tears yesterday following a government demolition exercise along the Kisumu-Busia highway where bulldozers reduced stalls and shops to rubbles to make room for the expansion of the road.
The operation, which was undertaken on Thursday by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), impacted businesses in Maseno town and Luanda greatly, where roads lined with kiosks and roadside stalls were reduced to the ground within hours.
Police officers had been with the exercise to prevent any extent of resistance by the residents, although fights broke out as some of the traders tried to thwart the machines.
To many, the demolition came as a surprise. Traders accused KeNHA of failing to give a new notice before breaking in.
“The only notice we ever got was years ago in 2018. We have heard nothing since then until today when they just showed up,” says one visibly angry shopkeeper at Maseno.
The demolitions form part of government intentions to upgrade Kisumu-Busia highway, a major route between Kenya and its neighboring nation Uganda.
The highway has long been beset with congestion and lack of maintenance, earning complaints from road users and businesspersons alike.
Only last month, KeNHA assured that a contractor had been hired to initiate repairs on the busy section after being criticized over potholes and general neglect.
In its July 24 publication, the agency indicated that the contractor had already been informed of service expectations and would continue rehabilitating sections of the road.
But for the victims of Thursday who lost their stalls, survival is the more pressing concern.
The majority of them stated that the small businesses were their only source of sustenance, and the overnight demolition left them with no direction in which to go.
