The informal sector features prominently in many discussions about Africa’s economic health. Some say it should be encouraged. After all, it’s a lot better than having citizens turn to crime in their effort to survive.
Janet Wasinga, a resident of the once-serene South B estate in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has a different perspective on the matter.
“I do not think I can continue living here. I have made up my mind that I am moving away from this estate, because hawkers are literally operating from my gate,” she says.
“It started with just a handful by the roadside. Now the entire stretch is bubbling with hawkers. We cannot live in peace because of their deafening noise.”
The clatter of business being conducted on sidewalks isn’t the only problem, Wasinga adds.
“The whole stretch has been hijacked by vendors, making movement almost impossible,” she says, noting that motorists now fall prey to carjackers who pounce on them when they slow down to squeeze through the structures erected by traders.
“The place, which was once the envy of many, now looks like a slum from afar, because of the makeshift carton-walled stalls that house the hawkers’ wares,” observes Wasinga.
Other parts of Nairobi have experienced a similar influx of hawkers. In the centre of the capital, informal traders proliferate in busy streets — selling everything from groceries to electronic goods.
According to Benson Mbui Ng’ang’a, secretary general of the Hawkers and Vendors Federation (HVF), an average of 100 000 vendors operates within Nairobi’s central business district (CBD) alone.
While attempts have been made to relocate them to back roads, where they would be less likely to cause congestion, these have largely failed. Hawkers simply trickle back to the main streets where they are most likely to rack up sales — even if this involves dealing with the irritation of passers-by.
Ng’ang’a says efforts at relocation stumbled because the areas designated for informal trading were in an appalling condition. Mwangi Wahome, a hawker who sells groceries, agrees.
“The places are full of dust and faeces of street children. There is no water, no toilets — and they are dark without light, and garbage heaps are all over,” he says.
“It is impossible for one to survive in such an environment. How can one sell food stuffs in such an area?”
Wahome says the areas set aside for trading also tend to be unsafe: “The back lanes are quite insecure because of the presence of many street children. Some of these areas are hideouts for thugs. No clients want to risk shopping in these areas.
“As a result, we do not get customers, hence our decision to move into the CBD, where clients keep streaming in.”
Cat-and-mouse games between vendors and the city council askaris (guards) are common. The askaris patrol the city for hawkers operating outside designated trading zones. Hawkers who sense that they are about to be arrested quickly pack up their wares and flee: often, a stampede ensues.
Ng’ang’a believes such scenes can be avoided if the government gets down to the business of providing secure markets, with a full array of amenities.
“If the authorities took the trouble to rectify the situation, build permanent structures [and] beef up security, hawkers would stick to their sites and many more people would venture into the business,” he says.
Indeed, hawking can prove fairly lucrative.
Ng’ang’a claims that many vendors take home just more than $6 a day — this in a country where about 23% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, according to the 2004 Human Development Report (prepared by the United Nations Development Programme). He also says that each hawker is required to pay about 30 cents to the city council in service charges — even though no services are offered.
In order to accomplish reforms, however, there needs to be an official recognition of hawkers.
“The first measure is to legalise the trade. There is need for a policy directive that will have a provision for hawkers,” Ng’ang’a says, noting that informal vending is still outlawed by Nairobi’s city council.
HVF is also calling for a participatory approach to solving the problems created by informal trading that would involve both hawkers and the government. To date, this call appears to have fallen on deaf ears — but change may finally be on the horizon.
“We have had several meetings with the minister of local government last year and this year as well. He is indicating that things are in motion, and that he is working on our matter,” Ng’ang’a said. Efforts to get comment from the minister or the town clerk were futile.
Statistics from the Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Associations (informal or small-scale businesses) indicate that hawkers make up almost half of those working in the informal sector.
The organisation’s chairperson, James Bwatuti, says of the 6,9-million people in this sector, about 3,5-million are hawkers.
He also claims that the informal sector contributes about 18% of the country’s gross domestic product, and that it is imperative for the government to pay it the attention it deserves: “I think the sector has been ignored for some time. We do not even have a budget allocation. This shows where the government places the industry.”
Although a policy on informal trading was presented to the Cabinet in March, it has yet to be tabled in Parliament. The formal adoption of such a policy is a key step towards getting funds allocated to the sector.
Bwatuti says a national policy would also allow hawkers to be properly taxed: “If we are taxed, we will have a right to demand better services and favourable investment terms just like other investors.”
“Better terms will woo many more people into the sector,” he adds — no small matter in a country where, according to the government, 14,6% of the workforce is unemployed. — IPS