More than 250 traders at the Alibaba Shopping Mall in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, are counting losses after their stalls were brought down yesterday morning by bulldozers. The 2am incident saw 150 stalls out of 250 stalls at the three months old trading center brought down under unclear circumstances since there was no court order or eviction notice issued to the traders to vacate the premises. The night guard Musa Ole Masantu said that he was shocked to see a bulldozer run over the main gate accompanied by a contingent of police who whisked them away to allow the bulldozer tare down the stalls. Masantu narrated that the police were all over some in uniform and others in plain clothes keeping guard that no trader who had already started to trickle in when they got the information was not going to interfere with the exercise
. “They handcuffed me together with my colleague and took us out allowing the bulldozer to go in, all they told me was that they were here to do their work,” said Masantu.
For most of the traders many of whom had taken loans for their business, it was tears and anguish as everything was destroyed and buried in the rubble as the officers refused to allow them salvage anything despite their cries. Looking desperate and confused, 39-year-old Everlyne Karembo Changawa could not hold back her tears as she thought about the Sh. 80,000 loan she recently acquired from her local chama in Marereni to replenish her stock. The mother of two who stays in Mzambarauni village in Mtwapa, said that she had just restocked her stall with the loan she took last week and was now left with nothing even to feed her children and two grandchildren after everything she owned was destroyed. “I am finished, I don’t know what I will tell my fellow chama members, all the stock has been destroyed. I don’t even know what my family will eat today,” cried out Changawa.
Changawa’s plight was similar to that of Margaret Kemunto who was owning three stalls in the market. Kemunto stated that she was servicing a Sh. 400,000 loan from a micro finance sacco she used to restock her three stalls with which were all flatted down. “Our lives have been destroyed, no notice or court order was issued to evict us from this area. Why have they done this injustice to us innocent Kenyans?” said Kemunto. She added that the county government of Kilifi Inspectorate department had agreed with them that they would be paying Sh. 15 daily and that there was no tussle for the land. They now want the government to step in and come clear on who was responsible for the demolitions they claim were inhumane to them.