Nairobi: The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives delegation toured Uasin Gishu County to engage the public on the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood) Bill, 2023, and also conduct an inspection visit of the CAIP project in Moiben Sub-county.
According to Kenya News Agency, the Bill aims to regulate street vending, protect vendors from harassment, and provide a formal framework for licensing and designated vending zones. It also seeks to balance urban planning with the economic rights of small-scale traders. The visiting parliamentary team was led by the Aldai Member of Parliament, Marianne Keitany, accompanied by her Mathare counterpart, Anthony Oluoch.
Speaking on the sidelines of the public participation exercise conducted at county headquarters, Eldoret City, Keitany praised the Bill, noting it has come at the right time to help protect the street vendors and hawkers, who had been engaging in running battles with county enforcement for a long time, by providing clear guidelines on their operations within the city of Eldoret and its environs. She added that it is a protection of street vendors’ livelihoods, who for a long time have not had legislation or a law that protects them and their way of doing business.
Keitany affirmed that the public engagement is in fulfillment of Article 10 of the Constitution on public participation, ensuring citizens have the right to contribute to decision-making, policy formulation, and legislation, emphasizing inclusivity, transparency, and accountability. The MP expressed pleasure with the response and the comments from the public, noting, ‘For the first time, the people who we call the street vendors or the hawkers now feel that the running battles they’ve been having with the counties, which often resulted in their goods and wares being destroyed or being vandalized, will now be a thing of the past because now there will be a law and legislation on how to protect them.’
Keitany further underscored the key role the counties will play under the new law in making sure that they create vending zones or areas where these people can do business, restricted areas, and areas that are not for vending or not for street businesses. It also gives penalties for those who will commit the offense, both as a vendor and also as county government, in terms of enforcement of this law. ‘So this Bill has come at the right time, and it is something that will help the common Mwananchi move from what we call ‘the bottom coming up’. The livelihoods for those who do small businesses will now become something that is recognized in law, and they will have a way in which they can run and grow their businesses and improve livelihoods,’ added Keitany.
Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Evans Kapkea highlighted the importance of inclusive policies that protect and promote the livelihoods of street vendors, who play a critical role in the urban economy. The county Executive for Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Edward Sawe, expressed confidence that Bill when signed into law, will help to restore order within the city by ensuring every person has a fair opportunity to carry out business activities within Eldoret CBD and its surroundings. He acknowledged that the county has had issues with some street vendors, who had been doing their business in restricted areas, resulting in running battles with the county enforcement team. ‘We have had issues with hawkers who had been doing their activities at undesignated places as compared to their counterparts who had permits allowing them to do business at specific areas in the CBD,’ he said.
‘We shall ensure that when this Bill is signed into law, we shall have order so that every person has an equal opportunity to do business. We shall also do zoning for small-scale traders so that as they do business, they may have a conducive environment to conduct their activities and improve their livelihoods,’ added Sawe.
Source: Kenya News Agency
