Tens of traders on Wednesday staged demonstrations in the Kisumu Central Business District (CBD) demanding the immediate ouster of Acting City Manager Abala Wanga over demolitions and the proposed relocation of the Kisumu Bus Stage.
The protesting traders who hoisted placards to air their grievances, lit tyres on the roads leading to the City Hall, causing a major disruption of services within the city.
The irate traders went ahead to storm the City Hall which hosts Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o's office, demanding that he address their pleas before they could leave.
"We have gathered here to ensure small business people within the CBD of Kisumu. We are here because of the conduct of our city manager Abala Wanga," noted the Kisumu Bus Stage manager.
"We will not agree to moving the bus park to Molem. We will not agree with the demolition of Nyamlori. A whole primary school in Kisumu is where hotels are being built including kiosks for selling alcohol," the stage manager charged.
The protestors revealed that they had already drafted a petition which they stated would be presented to the Kisumu County Assembly at a future date.
Further, the protesting traders vowed not to pay any more taxes to the Kisumu County Government until the matter was fully addressed.
"Each time the city manager has been threatening our leaders, they call our leaders cartels. Anything that will happen to any trader in Kisumu, he will be held responsible," noted one of the protesting traders.
Instructively, the traders insisted the meeting between Governor Nyong'o and Abala include their representatives, with most of them dismissing a closed-door forum.
Governor Nyong'o was however yet to respond to the traders' demands despite the demonstrators protesting in front of his office for hours.
It is not the first time the traders have stormed the Governor's office over the demolition of kiosks situated within the CBD.
In a similar incident last year in March, traders protested the demolition of their stalls by the Kisumu County Government. Bulldozers commissioned by the County Government brought down several shops, sparking outrage from the residents.
Police Officers were forced to intervene to quell the protests.
