Businesses count losses as sector calls for end to looting

It is Friday morning at around 7 am when we catch up with *Abul along Banda Street, in Nairobi’s Central Business District.

He is busy rummaging through drawers and sifting through cabinets at his mobile phones shop, trying to find any valuables that might have remained after the premise was vandalised by unknown people during the week’s protests.

“I was too scared to come on Thursday because the protests were still on and the military had been deployed to the streets. It is today that I felt was abit safe to come over and count my losses but I had already been informed of the break-in,” Abdul tells the Star.

He says he has lost stock worth over Sh10 million at his shop located near Jamia Mosque.

Phyllis Wambui who owns an accessories shop at Cianda Market, along Mfangano Street, is also counting losses after her stall was burnt down by protesters on Tuesday.

“It is like I am dreaming. I can’t believe what has happened. These people have turned my life upside down,” she bitterly exclaims.

She is among the business owners at the building where boutiques, salons, accessories shops and other businesses were looted and burnt down.

In Nairobi, Quickmart Supermarket along Mfangano Street, Naivas Supermarket along Moi Avenue and Carrefour’s CBD branch, were also looted. Sunbeam Mall along Mfangano Street was burned down with the entire street swept clean.

Tens of businessmen and women in other parts of the city and major towns, including Kitengela, Eldoret and Nyeri are also counting losses after looters took advantage of the anti-Finance Bill protests, even as normalsy returned yesterday.

While major retail stores are insured, the majority of small businesses are not covered, leaving proprietors at the mercy of banks and other lending instructions, as majority have taken loans to start the businesses.

“I don’t know if I will recover especially since I had not insured my business. I hope banks can understand my plight and those of many who have been affected. Worst case I will have to quit this business and look for something else, or even seek opportunities abroad,” says *Nyambura, whose Sh7 million worth of stock went down in fire after her stall along Mfangano Street was burnt.

Along Luthili Avenue, business owners and their workers have since resorted to arm themselves to guard their businesses from looters, amid calls for continued protests.

This is despite President William Ruto’s decision to withdraw the contentious Finance Bill 2024.

“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya , who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill and shall subsequently be withdrawn,” he said during a televised address from State House, Nairobi, on Wednesday.

The losses recorded this week come amid continued struggle by SMEs in the country where credit access remains a headache for many, amid a tough operating environment.

It is estimated that over 400 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are closed annually in Kenya.

A recent report by GeoPoll conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa also showed the Kenya’s MSMEs had the highest number of lay-offs, temporarily halting of work and salary reductions for employees in the last two years.

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has since insisted on “constructive and structured dialogue mechanisms” that address socioeconomic issues affecting all Kenyans and businesses.

“Kenyans and businesses are facing challenging economic times, and their voices call for reevaluating our economic model to ensure Kenya’s economic growth agenda is not compromised,” the private sector lobby group said in a statement.

KEPSA chief executive Carole Kariuki said: “We support peaceful protests without destruction of the very businesses that feed our families.” 

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has on the other hand raised concerns over violence during protests leading to loss of lives and destruction of property, even as it acknowledges the right to picket, as enshrined in Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution, 2010, and by provisions of the Public Order Act.

“Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities. This must be done while safeguarding the life and safety of every Kenyan and without destruction of property and enterprises,” KAM board of directors said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the protests are threatening transit business to Uganda through the Port of Mombasa.

KACITA, a business support association in Uganda, has issued a notice to its members engaged in import and export business through Kenya to use Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania “in the interim.”