Court suspends relocation of wholesalers from Wakulima Market » Capital News
NAIROBI Kenya, Sep 13 — A High Court judge sitting at Nairobi’s Milimani Law Courts has issued a restraining order barring the Nairobi City County from evicting the Wakulika Market traders.
In directions issued on Friday, Judge Bahati Mwamuye suspended the notice issued by Nairobi City County following a case filed by Wakulika Market Traders Association.
The directive followed chaotic events on Tuesday as police officers moved to enforce City Hall’s order requiring the traders to relocate to Kangundo Road Market.
Mwamuye directed the traders and the county government to hold a meeting on September 17 to discuss the issue at hand and report to court regarding the same on September 30.
“Pending inter parties hearing and determination of this application, an order is hereby issued restraining the county from evicting the traders operating within or in the vicinity of Wakulima Market, Nairobi or interfering with their business operations in those areas,” said Mwamuye.
September 30 mention
He sloted the matter for further directions on September 30.
The judge directed applicants to serve the respondents the petition, the application and the court order immediately and file and affidavit of service by close of business Friday.
The court ordered the respondents including City Hall and key officials to file and serve responses to the application dated September 12 by close of business September 20.
Traders told the court that Nairobi County did not involve them in discussion on the planned relocation.
The traders moved to court following demostrations that saw police deploy water cannons to break the protest.
Police also lobbed teargas to disperse the traders leading to running-battles along Haile Sellasie Avenue in Nairobi.
City Hall insisted that the planned relocation would proceed citing overcrowding as a key justification.
The city noted that the market, designed to hold 1,200 traders, had over time attracted nearly 4,000 traders presenting challenges including traffic congestion impacting access to the Central Business District.
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