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{
    "id": 1565750,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1565750/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I will make a comment on the Statement by Sen. Karen Nyamu. Karen Nyamu, Senator, I am making a comment on your Statement. It would be important for you to listen, because it is an important statement. On 17th December, 2010, a vendor by the name Mohamed Bouazizi, in a small city in Sidi, Tunisia, set himself on fire outside the Office of the Governor; to the eyes of many people. It was just a vendor who was expressing frustration because of harassment by the city county government at that time. What followed that act led to what today is known as the Arab Spring, which brought down governments in that region. Street vendors are an important segment of any city, any society, anywhere. I do not understand the need for cities to be clean and for us to develop what we are calling smart cities. However, that must be balanced with the need to allow people to earn a living. When you chase street vendors and you get them out of the streets without providing them with alternatives, what exactly are you telling them to do? It is the responsibility of our governments; both local and national governments, to find ways and means of enabling people at the lower segments of the economic pyramid to earn a decent living. Mr. Speaker, Sir, last week, I was having a conversation with the Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, hon. Wycliffe Oparanya, about the success of the Hustler Fund. I am wondering that on the one hand, the national Government is enabling access to funds for young people to start small little businesses. On the other hand, the City County Government of Nairobi is chasing those very young people from doing their businesses on the streets of Nairobi. What would have been better is for the County Government of Nairobi to provide premises and places where vendors can do decent business. I believe we are way, way past the era of charging young people and women with batons and beating them up to get them out of the streets. I, therefore, call upon our friend, Senator, Governor Sakaja, to rethink that strategy of getting vendors out of the streets. There are better ways of doing it than beating up people and chasing them from the streets."
}