A few days after Kangemi- a residential area and a market along waiyaki way was razed by fire, Gikomba market was to be next in line. We can call the Kangemi incident an accident but for Gikomba, it looks like there is more than what just meets the eye. There is a lot to be discerned.
Being the largest market for second hand clothes and other merchandise, Gikomba market is a home of over 40,000 traders. It is such a busy market characterized by early risers who are on the ground by 3 am in the morning to conduct business. Despite the fact that the market is a source of employment for thousands of Kenyans, there has been a series of fire breakouts which disrupt operations in the market for some time and destruction of property whose value is hard to determine.
Today marked the 8th inferno destroying Gikomba within a span of five years. The question that remains unanswered is, whether the fire occurs by accident or through human assistance. The police are investigating the cause of the fire as they always do when such a common event occurs.
People have gone to express their opinions on the Gikomba fire tragedies on twitter and other social platforms
Fires at Nairobi’s Gikomba market, the country’s largest secondhand clothes market and home to over 40,000 traders, have become something like a ritual. Last night’s inferno is the 8th such incident in just 5 years.https://t.co/uKPM3QE6HJ#GikombaFire #UncensoredMtaani pic.twitter.com/7dzM8YiNbv
— Africa Uncensored (@AfUncensored) 7 February 2019
We need to have a Serious solution to these Gikomba Fires. This is definitely a Pattern that MUST be investigated. Some individuals are definitely planning to Grab that land and Build Flats there. ?#GikombaFire pic.twitter.com/nFHme04iFx
— BRAVIN™ (@ItsBravin) 6 February 2019
Previously Gikomba experienced fire in the following months.
2014 in May , October
2015 in June, May
2017 in October,September
2018 in June
2019 in February