Traders in Pondamali trading centre have lamented over constant power blackouts in the area saying it was hurting their business.
Speaking on Wednesday, they said that they are now forced to close business early because of the almost regular power outages in the area and called upon Kenya Power to quickly resolve the crisis.
They also cited insecurity and looting as some of the things affected their businesses.
They said that criminals were taking advantage of darkness precipitated by the outages to rob them of their goods.
"It is not business as usual here because we are forced to close early due to power blackouts and also the fear of criminals who take full advantage of the situation to steal from us. We appeal to Kenya Power to kindly respond to our woes because we are now staring at losses," lamented Dorcas Adhiambo, a fish trader.
Her sentiments were echoed by Paul Ndiritu, a trader in electronic goods, who said that some traders were now closing business as early as 6pm unlike in the past when they would trade until 7.30 pm.
However when contacted, Josiah Mwangi who is the area Kenya Power officer blamed the outages on transformer vandalism and illegal power connections and called on residents to volunteer information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.