Chongwe traders demand market

CHONGWE market traders along the Great East road have asked the council to build them a market as the existing market cannot accommodate all of them.

Hundreds of traders are illegally trading along the highway thereby risking their lives and making the environment untidy. The marketers dared the council and have vowed not to move.

They advised the council to build a modern market that was big enough to accommodate them. They admitted that they had been advised to move, but they had nowhere to go as the market the council was singing about only had 82 stands which could not accommodate them.

They are appealed to their area member of parliament and councilor to come to their rescue before the council forced them out of business.

“We have families to look after, being here is better than prostitution. The people we elected must come and hear our side of the story,” a trader who sought anonymity said.

A check in the designated market revealed that only one trader was faithfully trading there and 81 of the 82 stands were but, begging and only the extra space created for trading around the market had a significant number of traders.

A trader, Ms. Maneya Tiki from Libuko village wondered why the marketeers trading along the road were not willing to move into the market when the market was empty.

She noted that trading in the open air was not just unsafe for the traders, but also posed a health hazard to the public. “The food is exposed to contamination and this may lead to food poisoning,” she said.

The other traders in the council designated areas around the market advised the local authority not bow to pressure by the illegal traders. They claimed that their businesses were failing because of illegal trading along the highway.

In an interview with the Daily Nation market chairperson said the matter was being ably handled by the council who had the mandate to ensure sanity in the trading area. “We have engaged the council and we are waiting for their intervention” he said.