Shiquo Hii Style clears shops ahead of Saba Saba protests
By Arnold Ngure, July 7, 2025Businesswoman Shiquo wa Hii Style has cleared her shop’s stock and moved the products elsewhere ahead of the Saba Saba protests on July 7, 2025.
Speaking as she moved some of the products on the night of Sunday, July 6, 2025, the businesswoman expressed fears at the thought of goons and looters taking advantage of the protests to attack businesses in the city centre.
“As investors, we are securing our goods because we do not have an option. Investors are not safe, especially us; so, we are moving everything from the RNG plaza, from Beaver House and Superior,” Shiquo stated.
She revealed that the shops would be opened on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, if everything had settled down by then, painting a grim picture of uncertainty that businesses in urban areas have to go through when protests occur.
Businesses panic
Several shops in the city centre were equally reinforcing their entrances with heavy-duty iron bars to protect them from criminals.
During the protest of June 25, 2025, several shops in Nairobi were broken into and goods worth millions of shillings were carted away by unknown individuals.
In the aftermath, many business owners were left counting losses, while a section of politicians remarked that the shops that were targeted belonged to people from the Mount Kenya region.
While the leaders blamed Democracy for Citizens (DCP) Party leader Rigathi Gachagua, he dismissed the claims as baseless, noting that if at all he sponsored any goons, they would have been shot or arrested by the state.
Looting of businesses
Speaking on Friday, June 27, 2025, during an interview with a local TV station, the former deputy president questioned why the goons were not arrested if they were indeed his.
Gachagua also questioned why the government did not take action if indeed it had intelligence that he was planning to sponsor goons during the protests.
“I don’t know how fragile this government is. That a CS Interior is walking in the streets of Nairobi in the morning, and you are saying that was an attempted coup. If they had intelligence that goons were being paid by Rigathi Gachagua or anyone else, why did they not arrest these goons?” he said.
“If they were my goons today, they would have been shot dead or in custody. Whey, if they had intelligence that Gachagua or anyone else had paid goons to come and cause mayhem in Nairobi, why didn’t they act on that intelligence? How did they allow goons to go to a police station unarmed and take over our police stations?” Gachagua added.