Traders in Kamukunji staged protests on Thursday, October 29, over eviction orders from the Kamukunji Business Centre.
Footage obtained by Kenyans.co.ke showed hundreds of traders marching through the streets of Kamukunji, Nairobi.
They were carrying placards and twigs while singing chants, as hundreds of onlookers observed from the storey buildings.
This publication learned that they were protesting over the 16-storey building that collapsed in Eastleigh on Friday, October 3, which resulted in scores being trapped and tens unaccounted for.
Kamukuji travers protesting in Kamukuji streets, with onlookers having the spectacle on top of the buildings on October 29.
Photo
TV47
Since the incident, businesses and traders across the road from the scene of the collapsed 16-storey building in Eastleigh have been ordered to close.
Authorities maintained that the impact of the building collapse might have interfered with the structural integrity of the buildings in the vicinity.
This included the Kamukunji Business Center, a multi-storey building that sits within a considerable distance from the collapsed building.
However, authorities have maintained restrictions around the collapse site along 9th Street, where multi-agency teams continue search and recovery operations.
Some of the traders on the sidelines of the protests stated that they have no other form of income, and the evacuation order will impact them greatly financially, urging the government to provide more convenient alternatives.
“We want to ask the government to listen to our cry. When they ask us to evacuate, they should also provide more viable alternatives for us, because we depend on this business centre to put food on the table,” one trader stated.
Meanwhile, Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan appealed to the authorities for there to be a partial reopening of the market to support local traders who depend on the premises for their livelihoods.
Even with that appeal, Nairobi North Regional Commissioner Simon Osumba still maintained that it was as dangerous as at the time of the incident.
Aftermath of the Eastleigh building collapse in Nairobi on October 23, 2026.
Photo
Kenya Red Cross
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