BY MWANAHABARI REPORTER
Anyone who decides to walk on Luthuli Avenue is a potential customer – that’s one general rule all businesses men and women operating on the busy street thrive on.
It’s a principle that they have mastered by heart – which is why you will always come across a group of determined hawkers, sex workers, genuine businessmen (and women), and cons trying to pull you on the side – for a quick deal.
Luthuli Avenue has made billionaires – or maybe millionaires.
The same street has made many poor after falling prey to cons who have the gift of the tongue. They will sell you anything – including the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
Prostitutes in Nairobi love Luthuli Avenue which – interestingly – was named after a South African preacher Albert Luthuli, who became the first person outside Europe and America to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent role in the fight against the apartheid regime.
Luthuli died at the age of 69 on July 21, 1967 after he was hit by a train while crossing the trestle bridge in South Africa.
You can get anything in Luthuli
There is a silent belief that one can get anything in Luthuli Avenue – all you have to do is ask the right person. Of course you must have the dollars.
“The traders here will get you anything. They will never tell you that they something is out of stock. They will go and fetch it from wherever and present it,” James, a business man along the street told Mwanahabari. co.ke.
Adding: “However – buyers need to be careful also. I know many customers who have lost money in the hands of cons posing as genuine traders.”
The other silently booming business is prostitution.
Indeed – as this writer was working on the story – he came across a visibly drunk sex worker giving her colleague a dressing down for ‘pinching’ customers.
“Tunakujua, wewe kazi yako ni kutuharibia jina na biashara. Unagonga ma customers na ni sisi unatuchomea,” (We know you, all you want is to soil our name and business by stealing from customers. You are really spoiling our business).
In 2019 the Nairobi County embarked on a plan to improve the avenue and bring some order.
Indeed, the once noisy and chaotic road in the central business district (CBD) has acquired some order – and people are making money.
The avenue, considered as Nairobi’s main shopping district, now boasts street benches, bicycle parking spots, and expanded walkways which have made it very convenient to customers who mostly come out to shop for
electronics like camera accessories, television sets, mobile phones, flash discs and more.