Ngoliba ward Member of County Assembly Mr. Griston Ngigi has said that small scale traders should prepare themselves before the Public Health Act is enforced. He said that punitive notices that adversely affected the small scale businesses should be implemented once the traders were warned early to give them time to prepare.
The MCA also said that public health officers working in Kiambu county should be sensitive to the plight of small scale business people nevertheless.
Ngigi made the remarks after meeting the traders in Thika East where a notice had been issued to stop food hawking in the area.
The notice was signed by the Thika Public Health Officer Mr. Peter Mburu and copied to amongst others, the Thika East sub county commissioner Mr. David Komen.
However, the Thika East sub county administrator Mr. Michael Bundi defended the ban of food hawking in the area saying that the notice was aimed at safeguarding the health of the all the residents.
He further said that the public health officials had invoked the Public Health Act Cap 242 section 130 and 131 to ensure that food handlers conformed to good health practices in order to safeguard the general health of all the residents in the area.
Mr. Bundi noted that health officers had to take preventive measures for the sake of all the people in the area.