OP-ED: City Council Vibandas

They are a part of the scenery of Nairobi, these sheet aluminum, wooden, or polythene appendages to our estates and shopping centers. Kiosks, of course (informally referred to as kibandas). Catering for our most pressing needs, these little unregistered shops are deceptively crucial. We are dependent on them, regardless of where and how often we do our big supermarket trawls. Be it that pick me up mandazi on your morning commute to work, or the aspirins the morning after the night before, we cannot live without them. Recently the city council has stepped up efforts to take these informal kiosks down to replace them with council built stalls. As increasing numbers of these kiosks are beginning to dot our streets we decided to send out two of our reporters, Alex Roberts and Iloti Mutoka, to find out whether these new kiosks are living up to their hype or they are white elephant projects that have done more harm than good to shop owners. They returned with two very different answers.

YES

“I had a kiosk here for almost six years and when they told us that we had to have these council approved stalls that are painted green and white, I immediately applied. When my new stall was ready for use I was very happy. Until then, I had been operating a mabati (corrugated iron) kiosk with a timber extension that my late husband and I put up in the mid-nineties.

We used to be harassed constantly by the city council askaris and regular police would also come by a lot to demand bribes or threaten us for harbouring criminals. It was very stressful, and sometimes in the evening you did not know whether you would be in business in the morning.

But when these stalls came, everything changed. We started getting customers stopping in cars to buy our fruits and vegetables, when before they would go all the way to the local grocery store to buy the same things at more expensive prices. We have even expanded our selection of fruits more, which has led to my son being able to grow and supply me with produce so we make even more money.

The police and the council askaris hassle me much less, to the extent that they even buy from me at times. The stalls are built well, unlike the one which we built ourselves. This means that we are at less risk from things like fire or structural failure.

These stalls are a godsend. We have increased our client base, stockists are more prompt with delivery and we are not being harassed by the city council like we were before. I am glad I took the step to upgrade, and would encourage every shopkeeper to do so.”

As told to Iloti Mutoka

NO

“My name is Eva, the guys around call me Mama Eva, although they don’t come as much anymore. My house used to be a well known spot around Roysambu because I always could help my customers. No, not with Changaa but quality goods that decent people would need; I had quite good connections and it made a lot of money. When the chance came to open up my own shop in a city council stall came, I took it. It seemed very good, a chance to grow.

The truth is that it’s much harder than I expected. City council askaris have become a constant threat, now they hassle me all the time. I don’t sell anything I don’t have a license for, but they still come. I’ve been arrested several times, so have my clients.

I wanted to make more cash by selling booze, but no one will allow me a liquor license. Since moving to the city council stall, profits have been cut by more than half and I now compete with a dozen other shops in the area.

So who has benefited? I haven’t. People are getting so rich in this city and they organized us in a way that it’s much worse for us to make a living. It’s getting very hard for me to understand why some people in this town get away with so much, while kibandas are always pushed aside or set on fire.

Most people in Kenya rely on little shops, they’re a part of life for us. Why is it that even the smallest of things have to be regulated for us when big people can do whatever they want? Making kibandas into city council stalls is going to hurt business in Nairobi; it has already hurt mine. ”

As told to Alex Roberts

Read more of the Juakwality Issue here