Planning is doomed if planners fail to consider the social and economic consequences of their actions.
Planners of Kisumu got their priorities wrong by bringing down kiosks that house small businesses.
It is like their agenda was to make start-ups poor instead of giving a facelift to the city.
No one wants to live in a dirty city, but the population cannot survive without food.
It does not make sense to bring down kiosks, some as old as 30 years without providing any alternative venues.
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Unfortunately, those ruthlessly bringing down the kiosks get orders from the comfort of their corporate offices and enjoy at least three meals a day.
Unknown to them is that destroying these kiosks deny the owners meals and education to the children.
Some owners of these kiosks are heavily indebted and destroying their livelihoods are sending them into financial ruin.
Even the county risks losing revenue. No rational citizen will support disorder in our towns.
I remember when Mzee Jomo Kenyatta allowed Africans to own and put matatus on the road. The decision changed the quality of life of many Africans.
Small business
There are problems with matatus just as is the case with kiosks which can be solved through meaningful discussions.
It is not helpful destroying the kiosks and the assets inside them.
The planners of Kisumu city are keen to destroy a small business because they are either “dirty” or on the road reserve, but dirty can be beautiful. For some to be beautiful, they must make others dirty.
What such planners forget is that they should induce economic growth and improve the quality of life of Kisumu residents.
I wonder whether by destroying small businesses one is improving lives. The county must re-think the costs of these actions and compensate small businesses.
The policy of making Kisumu a clean city or getting rid of garbage should not be equated to denying small traders livelihoods and the chance to service their loans.
The move will compromise peace because when you put children out of school by destroying their parents’ source of income, you are planting hate.
Destroying kiosks should be equated to being sacked from a job in the era of ‘normal’ unemployment.
The Kisumu planners ought to clean up the city without destroying lives or inflicting suffering on the residents.
Globally, SMEs are the drivers of economic growth and employment and Kenya and Kisumu are not an exception.
Kisumu has few companies that offer employment, products and services which is substituted by small business.
Affordable cost
Thus the devolved unit should support the small business and not send ‘kanjos’ to destroy them.
They should train and facilitate traders access to finance and marketing at an affordable cost because such small firms find it hard to access finance and marketing their products.
This will require setting up SME training institutes and re-evaluating the role of small businesses in economic growth of the town.
Poor planners underrate the hardship of others.
In the long run, denying people food is a certain source of insecurity and I doubt whether foreign donors will extend aid to be used to destroy lives.
In Europe, the industrial revolution solved insecurity because it made sure workers were occupied in the factories.
Years back, we were taught that during the industrial revolution’s problems got their own solutions: increasing productivity in industry and agriculture, and in society faith that social conditions could be improved and that economic progress was inevitable.
The solution to hygiene in Kisumu lies not with destroying kiosks but with setting up industries in the region to provide jobs to the youth.
-The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi
