Gikomba Market Burns Down, Again

In what has become sarcastically known as ‘The Gikomba Market Annual Fire Festival’, the market has burnt down, again.

This comes barely 48 hours after the traders received a blow from the court which has now granted permission to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to evict a section of the Mitumba sellers to pave way for the expansion of Pumwani Majengo Health center.

Verified reports show that the section of the market that has been burnt down on the morning of Monday 8^th, 2021, was the Mitumba section where most traders keep their ‘bale’.

Traders were not able to save anything by the time they arrived. The Nairobi Fire Brigade arrived at the scene but the fire had spread due to the wooden stands used by the traders as shelters and stands to support their commodities.

Kenyans online have raised questions on why the fire keeps on recurring and no solution seems to have been arrived at over the decades. This is despite the huge loss of lives and property which with time has accumulated to billions in losses.

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On 18th March 2014, a raging fire destroyed property worth millions at the Gikomba market, near Shauri Moyo lower bridge at around 8 PM as the traders watched in despair.

An eyewitness who operated a hotel where the fire started reported that the inferno was generated by an alleged explosion at Joy stores which was adjacent to his eatery.

Seven months later, the market caught fire again, and property worth millions was burned down to ashes. Only a handful of traders managed to salvage some of their goods.

The same trend has been experienced over the years. In 2015 Gikomba caught fire twice (in January and June), in 2017 (September and October), and in 2018 and 2019, traders counted losses after such fires in the months June and February respectively.

Traders have always been angered by what they term as a slow response pace from the fire department. Many of them have been left forlornly wondering how they are going to repay outstanding loans they had applied to boost their business, which is repeatedly set ablaze.

What could be the real cause of the fires? Let us know what you think.