Small-scale traders at Uhuru open-air market along Jogoo Road woke up to devastation on Monday morning after bulldozers flattened their stalls in a late-night demolition carried out on Sunday, March 8, 2026.
Where rows of busy stalls once stood, there are now piles of timber, twisted iron sheets and scattered merchandise. Many traders spent the morning combing through the rubble, hoping to salvage anything that could still be useful. For most of them, however, the destruction was total.
Videos circulating on the internet, as seen by Business Today, showed traders digging through debris while others stood nearby in disbelief, staring at what remained of businesses they had built over the years. The once vibrant trading space had been reduced to a field of broken structures overnight.
The demolition came just days after the Nairobi City County government reportedly issued a 72-hour notice dated March 4 ordering traders to vacate the market.
The notice triggered anger among the traders, many of whom said they had nowhere else to move their businesses.
They also questioned why the demolition was proceeding despite a court case reportedly pending over the matter.
Protests
Tension around the market had been building for days before the demolition.
On March 6, hundreds of traders staged protests and barricaded sections of Jogoo Road during the lunch hour in an attempt to resist the planned eviction.
Protesters lit tyres and blocked parts of the busy road, bringing traffic to a standstill as they demanded that the county government halt the planned demolition.
Police were deployed to the area, and motorists were diverted to alternative routes as the demonstrations disrupted movement along one of the key roads linking Nairobi’s eastern neighbourhoods to the city centre.
The traders insisted the market had supported families for decades and warned that demolishing the stalls would push many households into economic hardship.
For many of the traders, the market was their only source of income.
Some said they had stocked goods worth thousands of shillings that were destroyed during the demolition. Others hoped to salvage building materials so they could rebuild their businesses elsewhere.
By Monday morning, traders were still gathering at the site, trying to figure out their next move.
Without an alternative location to relocate to, many now fear they may not be able to resume business anytime soon.
Demolitions targeting informal markets
The Uhuru Market demolition comes amid a wave of enforcement operations targeting roadside stalls and informal markets across Nairobi in recent days.
Last week, the Kenya National Highways Authority carried out a demolition exercise near the Roysambu Roundabout along Thika Superhighway. The night operation targeted kiosks and stalls that had been erected on road reserves along the busy highway.
Structures near the Kenya Power perimeter wall were among those brought down, including stalls that had extended into restricted sections of the road corridor. The stretch had become a popular roadside market where traders sold clothes and other goods to commuters.
Authorities said the demolitions were meant to reclaim public land and improve traffic flow along the highway.
A similar crackdown had earlier been carried out in Githurai, where informal traders operating along sections of Thika Superhighway were also removed from road reserves.
Gikomba market demolition halted by court
Elsewhere, traders at Gikomba Market narrowly avoided a demolition after the Environment and Land Court temporarily stopped plans to clear parts of the market.
The court ordered that the status quo be maintained until a case challenging the planned demolition is heard.
Gikomba is one of the largest informal markets in Nairobi and supports thousands of traders dealing in second-hand clothes, household goods and other items.
The recent demolitions have sparked growing anxiety among informal traders across the city.
While authorities say the operations are meant to clear illegal structures and reclaim public land, traders say the exercises are happening too abruptly and without proper relocation plans.
For many of the traders affected, the demolished stalls were more than simple structures made of timber and iron sheets.
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