A fire broke out again in Gikomba Market in Nairobi on early Friday morning at around 03:00 hours and is not yet under control.
In a video seen by this journalist, Gikomba, one of the city’s largest outdoor markets with a warren of wooden stalls selling all kinds of goods from clothes, food, spices, and household items, is ripped by fire and smoke and flames rise from a row of stores.
There are no fire engines at the scene, and not many small business traders, who own the stock that is being engulfed in flames are trying to battle the blaze using water, trying to rescue their goods. Check the video;
What the Actual Duck ? Gikomba Up In Flames🙁😭😭. Sasa Viatu Tutatoa Wapi Jamani🙆🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/VeHQMnmuL0
— kendrick The Greatest (@FwisaNation) December 1, 2023
The last time Gikomba was on fire was September 2023, but the worst was in December last year when traders lost goods worth Ksh2.4 million. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja had promised to set up a fire station at the market to tame the recurrent fires.
However, he had complained that land grabbers were a headache and prevented this would-be solution: “Gikomba is public land, and we will build a wall around it. It belongs to the people of Nairobi. We will defend it to the end from grabbers,” he said.
More to follow
