Traders at Toi market in Kibera have raised concern over the non-operational police booth that was set up to tackle issues of insecurity in the area.
On Friday, the traders criticised the security department for failing to deploy police officers to man the booth that was set up late last year.
They said the absence of police in the area has given criminals confidence to terrorise them especially at night.
"When they brought this container (police booth) we knew for sure that insecurity will be dealt with only to realise later that it was not meant to benefit us because it has been opened and no police comes close to it," said Johnstone Machage, mitumba seller at the market.
Machage said at times he is forced to close his business early for fear of being attacked by criminals.
Jet Survivor as he is famously known, is a jua kali artisan who runs a workshop at the market.
He said although insecurity cases have reduced, it is because of the initiative of the traders themselves who have embraced community policing.
"The police post that was brought to us by the government has never benefited us in any way. There are no police officers to operate there and therefore we have decided to take an initiative of ensuring that the market is secure for all of us. We carry out proper community policing and that has helped us in identifying criminals," said Survivor.
"There should be security personnel at the police post so that we can report criminal cases easily. If we have proper security, we would be able to carry out our businesses until late at night," added Rhoda Atieno who sells ladies wear.
During an interview with Kilimani OCPD Peter Kattam last week, it was clear that there are no enough police officers to be deployed in all the nine police booths set up in Kibera.
"We have a challenge in providing personnel in all the police booths but we are working on the matter to ensure that the residents are secure," said Kattam.
"We could not cater for all the booths at once due to the inadequate number of officers. However, it is important for residents to continue coordinating with the police even through phone calls to help fight insecurity," he added.