At the moment, Kisii town is one big Tower of Babel.
The noise—from hawkers and bars downtown—is matched by the unending congestion on narrow and increasingly crowded streets.
The town’s streets have effectively become trading floors, with countless hawkers occupying pavements, road reserves and, in some cases, the entrances of established businesses.
But Kisii Governor Simba Arati says the disorder could soon be a thing of the past with the completion of the Nyambera Modern Market.
The market, funded by the national government to the tune of Sh700 million, is emerging as the county government’s possible answer to one of Kisii’s most persistent urban challenges: how to accommodate thousands of informal traders without choking the town centre.
Downtown, pedestrians, motorists, shopkeepers and hawkers compete for limited space, creating a daily spectacle of congestion that has frustrated businesses and residents alike.
Hawkers sell clothes, shoes, foodstuffs, electronics and other merchandise along pavements, often forcing pedestrians onto the carriageway.
The problem becomes particularly acute when vendors position their wares directly outside established shops, blocking entrances and competing for customers.
Mary Njoberi, a trader in the town centre, said the situation was hurting formal businesses.
“Sometimes a customer comes looking for my shop but finds the entrance completely blocked by merchandise. By the time they squeeze through, they are already frustrated,” she said.
Njoberi said the situation often creates tension between shopkeepers and hawkers, despite both groups depending on the same customers.
Charles Ombongi said traders were not opposed to informal businesses but wanted order restored.
“We are not against people earning a living. The problem is that there must be order. You cannot have one person paying rent and other charges while another person puts goods at the entrance and competes for the same customers,” he said.
Joshua Kebengi, a cloth dealer, said congestion was increasingly affecting customer experience.
“Customers want convenience. If someone has to fight their way through hawkers, vehicles and pedestrians just to enter a shop, they may decide to go somewhere else,” he said.
For mobile phone operator Kamau Joseph, the congestion is particularly problematic for businesses that depend on customers making quick visits.
“Customers often need to walk in, ask a question, buy something or have their phones serviced. When the entrance is surrounded by vendors, it becomes difficult for them to reach us,” he said.
Kebengi said the solution should accommodate hawkers while protecting established businesses and keeping pedestrian walkways open.
The proposed relocation to Nyambera could provide precisely such a solution.
Governor Arati says relocating street vendors to the upcoming market would offer traders an organised alternative to operating along busy streets.
The modern market is expected to provide designated trading spaces, allowing vendors to conduct business in an environment designed specifically for commerce.
If successful, the relocation could free pavements and road reserves, improve traffic flow and make it easier for customers to access established shops.
It could also help address sanitation and security concerns associated with uncontrolled street trading.
For many hawkers, however, relocation must not simply mean removal from the streets.
Moraa, who sells milk and bread around Capital Roundabout, said informal traders were struggling to survive.
“We have to strike a balance between our survival and their wellbeing. It is a man-eat-man society,” she said.
Her concern points to the biggest test facing the Nyambera plan: ensuring traders have both affordable spaces and enough customers to sustain their businesses.
Without adequate foot traffic, affordable rents, security, sanitation and reliable transport links, some vendors could eventually abandon the market and return to the streets.
Business owners therefore want the relocation accompanied by improved access roads, parking facilities, pedestrian walkways and consistent enforcement of municipal regulations.
Kisii’s rapid population growth has placed enormous pressure on infrastructure, with residents arguing that roads, drainage, parking and pedestrian facilities have failed to keep pace with the expanding urban population.
The situation is compounded by the poor condition of some roads within estates surrounding the central business district. Dusty, muddy and poorly maintained roads push more traffic towards the already crowded town centre.
The congestion is not merely an inconvenience.
Blocked walkways can obstruct pedestrians during emergencies, while crowded roads can slow the movement of ambulances, fire engines and other emergency vehicles.
Nyambera therefore represents more than a new marketplace. It offers an opportunity to reorganise Kisii’s informal economy and reclaim public spaces currently occupied by traders.
The challenge will be ensuring that relocation is implemented fairly and consistently.
Authorities will need to resist selective enforcement, engage traders before relocation and ensure that the new market provides an environment where businesses can actually thrive.
If those conditions are met, Nyambera could become the turning point in Kisii’s long-running street-vending problem.
The ultimate goal should not be to eliminate informal traders, but to move them from places where they obstruct movement and business into a properly planned commercial environment.
For Kisii, the success of Nyambera could finally mean streets designed for movement, shops whose entrances are accessible and traders who can earn a living without turning pavements into makeshift markets.
The market could therefore offer the town something it has struggled to achieve for years: a balance between the right to earn a living and the right to a clean, orderly and accessible urban centre.
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