Gakoromone traders and rights group demand closure of sewage discharge

Traders relocated next to a sewage facility say the county government demolished their market in the night then left them to sell food beside an open drain

By Brian Gitonga

The Centre for Rural Justice yesterday condemned the Meru County Government over the relocation of Gakoromone Market traders to a temporary site adjacent to a sewage facility, warning that the arrangement exposes traders and their customers to serious health and environmental risks.

The rights organisation also announced peaceful demonstrations beginning today, demanding an immediate end to the discharge of raw sewage into nearby rivers — a problem residents say has gone unresolved since May 2026 and one they fear will worsen significantly once the rains arrive.

A trader stands next to the Gakoromone sewerage. Photo by Brian Gitonga

Speaking at a press briefing, Centre for Rural Justice chairperson Mwenda Murerwa said residents, traders and community groups would take to the streets to force authorities to act.

“We are calling on everyone to come out and demand that this sewage discharge is stopped so that it no longer flows into our rivers,” Murerwa said.

Murerwa said the organisation wants the discharge halted immediately, noting that affected communities had been waiting for nearly four months for a response from the relevant authorities. He said the approaching rainy season had sharpened the urgency, warning that heavier water flow could carry pollution further downstream and contaminate a wider area. He called for the planned transfer of sewage operations to Rwanyange to be fast-tracked before conditions deteriorate further.

“Residents were told sewage would be redirected to Rwanyange,” Murerwa said. “We are asking the agencies involved to honour that commitment before the rains intensify.”

The organisation also raised concerns about how the demolition of sections of Gakoromone Market was handled, saying some traders sustained losses before being directed to set up businesses at the sewage-adjacent site. The combination of a midnight demolition, destroyed merchandise and an unsuitable replacement location has, according to the group, left many traders in a deeply precarious position.

North Imenti resident Muriungi O Kaaga was blunt in his assessment of the situation, questioning how any authority could consider the temporary site appropriate for traders selling food and goods for human consumption.

“This is very wrong. I wonder whether they have any mercy on these people — from demolitions carried out in the middle of the night and the destruction of their merchandise, to now expecting them to sell next to the sewage,” Muriungi said.

Muriungi O Kaaga, a North Imenti resident addresses the press. Photo by Brian Gitonga.

Muriungi, who said he had lived in Meru town for many years, added that he had never seen traders placed in comparable circumstances. He warned that the environment would deter customers from buying food there, directly undermining the incomes of traders already struggling to recover from the disruption of their relocation.

“They are telling traders to sell their merchandise in the sewage area,” he said. “If you were asked to buy food being sold in front of a toilet, would you do it?”

Gakoromone Traders Secretary Edwin Mwenda echoed the frustration, questioning why the Rwanyange sewerage project — which has been under development for several years — had still not been completed. He said traders had been repeatedly assured that the project was nearing the finish line, yet sewage operations remained in the same location.

“The government hastened to demolish our market in the middle of the night,” Mwenda said. “We now wonder why they cannot put the same effort into getting rid of this sewage.”

Mwenda called on both the county and national governments to urgently expedite the relocation of sewage operations to Rwanyange, arguing that the same decisiveness applied to the market demolition must now be directed toward creating a safe, functional and dignified trading environment.

The situation in Gakoromone reflects a broader tension in Kenya’s urban development — between infrastructure projects pursued at speed and the human cost borne by the small traders and residents left to navigate the consequences. For those selling vegetables, meat and household goods beside an open sewage drain in Meru, the wait for a resolution is no longer simply inconvenient. It is a daily indignity.

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