Hagadera market is evidently one of the biggest markets in Dadaab Refugee Camp.
A majority of the businesses there are run by refugees who offer their services for cash to supplement the meagre donation by the United Nations and the Kenyan government.
Businessmen operating in the market now allay fears that their long-term investments may be hugely affected if the refugees are repatriated from the camps.
According to Kinyua, a businessman from Nyeri who first visited the area in 2002, Hagadera market is one of the busiest he has ever seen. He says the huge number of people provide a ready market for household items like utensils and foodstuffs.
Hagadera tents were established in early 1992 being the largest and third oldest refugee camp in the Dadaab operation.
Despite the economic benefits, Kenya’s government has threatened to close all the Dadaab refugee camps citing security factors.
The camp, which accommodates close to 350,000 Somali refugees, is the world’s largest refugee camp.
The UN refugee agency has in the past urged Kenya to reconsider the order to close the teeming refugee camp, warning that forcing the Somali refugees back to their insecure homeland would have extreme humanitarian problems and also practical consequences.