Relief for Kenyan businesses as protests end

NAIROBI (Reuters) - If Kenya's demonstrations over a disputed presidential election had lasted more than three days, septuagenarian candy and peanut seller Wanjiru feared the worst.

"I slept hungry for three days. If it had continued, I would have died of hunger," Wanjiru, who declined to give her other name, said.

From traders like Wanjiru, who sells her wares spread on a piece of cardboard in downtown Nairobi for a subsistence living, to bigger merchants, the end of three days of protests called by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement came as a relief.

Police firing teargas and chasing protesters defying a government ban on demonstrations led downtown Nairobi businesses to shut down as soon as the fumes began wafting through the air, for Wednesday through Friday.

That followed a week-long shutdown caused by violent protests after Kibaki was declared the winner on December 30.

Many of the city's businesspeople are small-scale traders, relying on daily sales to make a living.

"Now, I hardly make 600 Kenyan shillings ($8.87) a day," said Mohamed Kikuji, who sells compact discs and mobile phone accessories. On a good day, he makes as much as 5,000 shillings ($73.91).

Angry traders at one point on Friday confronted demonstrators chased by police, and TV footage showed one woman shouting at opposition leaders: "We have a right to work!"

Businesspeople said they did not really care who won the election, but rather that work and calm would return.

"Either way, we gain nothing," said Kikuji. "By voting, it does not mean we signed our death certificates."

At least 23 people died in Kenya, one of Africa's most promising economies, during the latest demonstrations, bringing the death toll to some 650 since the December 27 election.

A quarter a million others have been uprooted from their homes and livelihoods disrupted.

On Dec 30, Kenya's business community said the government was losing $31.45 million in taxes a day due to the unrest.

"We can't move ahead without peace, otherwise we lose customers," said Linda Olili, a supervisor at a popular downtown restaurant.

Two weeks ago, Finance Minister Amos Kimunya said the violence might have cost the Kenyan economy, east Africa's largest, up to $1 billion.

The opposition has said that instead of street protests, it would now boycott businesses seen as supporting Kibaki, who is from Kenya's largest and most economically powerful tribe, the Kikuyu.

A text message being sent around among opposition backers urged them "to start boycotting products and services from the politically correct community," a reference to Kikuyus.

In some local markets, people said Kikuyu traders had been charging higher prices to people from tribes seen as backing ODM.

(Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed in Kisumu, Editing by Bryson Hull)