The chairman of hoteliers in Nakuru city David Mwangi has voiced serious concerns over the ever-increasing aggressive food hawkers who are edging out restaurants, despite the fact that they neither pay any tax nor levies to the county government.
In an interview with KNA on Monday, the chairman said they are perturbed and stressed by the fact that the county government has turned a deaf year to their objections, and yet food hawking has not only contributed to the closure of restaurants due to lack of customers but massive job losses of cooks and waiters.
However, one of the food hawkers, Faith Njoki, said their business was too small and negligible to compete with established restaurants, but she added that the difficult economic times have created opportunities for them to sell food at affordable prices.
Njoki said a mug of porridge or tea sells at only twenty shillings while one ‘mandazi’ or two slices of bread sells at ten shillings hence attracting customers.
But the chairman dismissed her claims and said their actions were similar and comparable to illegal food services, which weren’t regulated by the public health act, that requires rigorous inspection and frequent health certificates from food handlers.
He warned the residents that they are exposing their health to possible food poisoning because it was cooked in unhygienic areas, and the fact that the food was transported all over the city makes it not good for consumption.
Nevertheless, even office workers including civil servants and county workers have joined the bandwagon of consuming hawked food, and it’s not uncommon to find them moving from one office to another.
By Veronica Bosibori
