Street traders whose stall were demolished in Kisii have vowed to boycott paying taxes.
They went ahead to war that they will chase away any revenue officer who dares collect tax from them.
The demolitions were done on Thursday night by municipal askaris. The incident was followed by violent protests along the town’s streets.
Anti-riot police lobbed tear-gas at the traders who were chanting anti-Governor James Ongwae slogans.
Kisii Central MCA Kepha Mrefu, who joined in the protests, demanded a cessation in the demolitions citing poor timing and Covid-19 pandemic.
Mrefu said many small-scale businesses are fairing badly in the face of the pandemic. He called for a tax boycott until both sides reach consensus.
“Let fresh deliberations be done and whatever step that may be arrived be considerate of the hard times we are in. Reorganising the town is good but everything must be done with empathy of the person who ekes a living from the streets,” he told journalists.
Mrefu said as of now, there is need that the exercise be halted to give room for further discussions.
“For now please don’t pay any cent as tax to the county,” he told the traders.
Already, the country continues to register a spike in infections and deaths, resulting in the locking down of five counties of Nairobi, Machakos, Kajiado and Nakuru.
Kisii has had more than 35 deaths and 1,300 of infections since March last year.
Mrefu said this, coupled by a struggling economy, was already hurting the traders.
“While the efforts to bring sanity in structuring and reorganising the town are welcome, the time at which the Municipal Board officials planned it was very wrong,”Mrefu said.
Traders condemned the demolitions while others wailed uncontrollably at the sight of vandalised property. Many of them said they lost all their stock.
Some women traders said they had acquired loans from shylocks to start their business after they were laid off.
“I had approached one shylock who assisted me with Sh60,000 to help me start a grocery, but look here. It has all been plundered and destroyed in the orgy of the night demolitions by the county enforcement officers,”Jane Getuma said.
Martha Bonari, another trader, said her clothes stall was also vandalised, allegedly by those who demolished the stalls.
“The metal grills were mangled and overturned, no cloth was left, not even an underwear,”she narrated to the Star on Saturday.
Traders representatives Jane Matiabe and Peter Yoge promised a fight with the county administration, saying many of them were caught off guard.
“There was an early notice but it was later suspended. As traders, we were not aware they were about to begin the demolitions,”Matiabe said.
She said many widows and those rendered jobless following the effects of Covid-19 were the most hit as the demolitions entered the second night.
On Friday, there were running battles between the police and the street traders who lit fires and blocked traffic.
Kisii Municipality Manager Nahashon Ongeri could not be reached for a comment.
In an earlier interview, however, he said the plans to bring order to the town had not been suspended.
Structures targeted for demolitions in the reorganisation drive include those erected on drainage areas, verandahs and walkways,he said. BY THE STAR