Re: iiiim back & Hawkers

1st... DAMN!!! Thomas thats a fat deadly gadget you got!!!!

Olympics... (pls keep in mind my firm anti-olympics nairobi 2016 stance) well, i must concede that the publicity aroused by Ayako's announcement must have its advantages and it surely has put us in the map. I'd bet that it doesnt hurt to have our country mentioned in international news every so often... keeping Kenya ringing in people's heads, surely will help when marketing Kenya as a tourist destination and cause quite some curiosity on what we have to offer. On the other hand, it has inspired/ gotten some of us to think about how far away we are, in capacity, from the western or developed countries of the world. We can look forward to the day that we can host the World Cup or Olympics comfortably and work towards it. I must pat the Minister on the back for bringing that dream to the front of our minds... one day it won't sound incredulous... the suggestion that Kenya can host the Olympics. What the heck... we are the future!?

Hawkers... Thomas you are right... there was a time when the hawkers were kicked out of town and sent into alleys/ vichochoros from where they would sell their wares and if they were found selling stuff in CBD, they would be arrested. Actually that is the current status, they are not allowed in the CBD. The Minister ordered them out of the Alleys/Vichochoros (alleys sounds too nice) just the other day and they are now to be relocated to some markets that the Council/Govt is constructing in Ngara and other places. My take on it... i preferred having them in the alleys because then they were easily accessible to the Nairobi Citizenry at any time i.e. after work one was able to walk down the alleys (when the sun is still up) till about 6.30 and buy your tomatoes or your clothes etc. So both the hawkers and the citizenry benefited. I personally pigad laps down the alleys sometimes and i found it pretty safe. The Minister complained about safety but i think if that was the problem then the guy should have gotten his Council Askaris to provide security and further to weka good lighting among other security measures. Anyway, wherever they will be taken, if it is much further out of the CBD, their clientele will drastically reduce and they'l make much less in sales because those customers who would go shopping after work will not be able to get a matatu to Ngara at 5pm to shop then get back to town to board another matatu to take them home. EVen if they wanted to, it would be extrememly hectic because of the 5pm traffic. I fear that the Minister just wanted to feature in the news or become relevant, having lacked any other means of flexing his muscles or looking active and beneficial to the Govt. Just like charlene said 'When the Cats Away': it aint helping in job creation at all!!.

On the other hand, and away from the defeatist doomsday attitude, its about time that we de-clog or decongest the city of nairobi. There's just too much activity in the city which should be spread out to its outskirts. The CBD needs to grow to meet, match and facilitate economic growth. Matatus and buses... something needs to be done about their stages. The streets in my view need to get wider. We need to actually pull some buildings down and start thinking about a plan to make Nairobi a more efficient city. And that can not be done by Musikari (i shouldnt go round naming names, aint wise) that can't be done by the Minister for Local Govt., the Mayor and the Provincial Commissioner alone. Some sort of commission should be constituted to work out a major plan about how our CBD transport infrastructure should look like, where we want to have our markets, how much office/housing space we want to allocate to the CBD, etc. So maybe the Minister has his head looking in the right direction, just needs more top notch Govt croonies to join him.

Dear Administrators... i noticed a 'tag' feature the other day. Kindly fafanua how it works