Wakulima Market feeds more than 50 per cent of Nairobi's residents, yet the country's largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market is in a deplorable state.

After numerous complaints about the dirt and stench, the market was closed in 2005 for thorough cleaning, the first in 30 years.

Six thousand rats were reportedly killed. The market, popularly known as Marikiti, has not undergone a similar clean-up since.

Wakulima Market was built in 1966 when Nairobi had a population of about 380,000 people, but by 2009, population estimates put the figure at 3.3 million .With the increase in population, more and more people have come to rely on the market.