After their property was completely destroyed in an early-morning fire, hundreds of vendors at Mutindwa market are calculating their damages.
The fire erupted at two in the morning and was aggressive, according to Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje.
“Traders at Mutindwa Market lost products valued at around Sh100 million as a result of the 2 AM fire… We will examine the damage and need to repair, he said in a statement. Poleni sana watu wangu.
After an hour, firefighters from the neighboring Kangundo Road Fire Station were unable to put out the fire; they were later assisted by the Kenyan army, who were still putting out the fire’s last flames at 9 a.m.
The fire’s origin is still unknown.
Just two days prior to the Mutindwa incident, a comparable fire at the well-known Toi market in Kibera left hundreds of vendors tallying their losses.
The Kenya Railways Corporation issued a notice in January ordering the destruction of unpermitted buildings at Mutindwa market.
In order to make room for an access road to the station, Kenya Railways urged merchants to leave the area on road reserves and less than three meters from the train.
The market, which is located close to East School of Theology University and Bidii Primary School, has been destroyed by previous Nairobi City Councils for a variety of reasons.
According to reports, the fire broke out at two in the morning and burned for several hours, turning the temporary stalls to ashes and burning items worth millions of shillings.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers started an inquiry on Monday to determine what started the fire that destroyed the whole Toi market.
Once at the now-flattened famed market, detectives took ash samples for examination.
On Sunday, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja went to the market and promised to help the more than 3,000 traders rebuild their structures.
