The county government of Nyamira has embarked on the process of destroying roadside makeshift kiosks in its bid to improve the safety of its residents from perceived danger from speeding cars along Kisii-Nairobi highway.
The Monday evening exercise left many traders cursing the county government for allegedly failing to give them a prior notice with a section of them vowing to boycott remitting of taxes.
Speaking to the writer, a number of traders led by Mrs Eunice Kerubo blamed the county leadership and accused it of incompetency and threatened to hold demos against John Nyagarama led government.
“We are shocked with the decision to bring down our trading shades without giving us the alternative. The county leadership has failed and we will no longer remit taxes. Furthermore, we will hold major demos if the county leadership fails to account for our loses,” she said.
They also called for compensation following ruthless destruction of their property by the team from the county government that was executing the order.
“Because we were not given any summons, we will go to court to ask for compensation. This is total violation of our rights,” she added.
However, the move was defended by a senior official from department of transport Henry Nyairora who said the shades were too close to the road therefore endangering the lives of the residents.
“As a county government, we are mandated top take care of every life. We could no longer sit back and watch lives of people being endangered simply because they are trading near the road making them vulnerable to accidents. We will soon find a solution to their plight though,” he said.