Thika town businessmen have decried what they have said is proliferation of hawkers in the town CBD in the recent days saying it is having a negative impact on their businesses.
The businessmen say that hawkers are coming to the town centre as early as 5pm during the weekdays and much earlier on weekends and ending up blocking customers from accessing their premises.
"Hawkers have been multiplying in the town CBD rapidly over the last few months and it looks like we will start having the same problems we were having with them early last year when they had again entered the streets before being flushed out by the county government. Customers are finding it hard to access our shops as the hawkers are all over in front of our businesses," said Lydia Waithira, a businesswoman at Pork City, Thika on Wednesday.
They say the hawkers don't like being challenged to move their merchandise from the front of shops as they become rude and violent.
"Most of the times if you ask them to move a bit and give way to customers to access your shop they will abuse and ask whether you think theirs is not business or you are underrating them and other stuff ike that. So, most of the times we just decide to keep quiet", said Samuel Mugambi, a Pharmacist at Gathimaini Chemist.
However, some of the hawkers we talked to trashed the accusations saying they don't block anybody's businesses and they only come in the streets late in the evening.
"No hawker can go blocking anyone's business because even the owners of those businesses cannot stand you a minute. That is just a gimmick of having us chased away from the streets," Simon Ngure who hawks belts and padlocks said on Wednesday.
Another hawker Charles Kiarie said: "We display our wares on the shop verandahs but we leave huge space behind us not to interfere with other people's businesses.We also don't come to the streets before 6.30pm unless it is weekends when many businesses are usually closed."
The county government had late last year asked hawkers in the town to keep to their territories and avoid bringing congestion in the town centre.