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Traders who were displaced to pave way for the renovation of the Sh3 billion Kisumu Port want to be settled at the Uhuru Business Park.
The Sh600 million market was built by the national government to accommodate traders who were evicted in 2019 to allow for the refurbishment of the port.
More than 4,000 traders are expected to be settled at the market located at Railways ward, Kisumu Central subcounty. It can accommodate 10,000 businesses.
Isaiah Ojuka, a clerk at the Uhuru market, said the market will be opened by March 30.
He attributed the delay to putting measures in place on how the market will be managed.
Nyanza regional commissioner Magu Mutindika said the traders will be allowed into the market by March 30.
“We have to listen to all the grievances after balloting the market,” Mutindika said.
Lwangni traders chairman Ezekia Okello said they were promised to be resettled at the Uhuru Business Park in five months but three years down the line that was yet to be realised.
“We moved out peacefully and up to now, we have no space to continue with our businesses. We are suffering because most of us have loans to pay,” he said.
Okello questioned why the government has delayed officially opening the market for traders.
He said the traders have threatened to forcefully move into the market to end their suffering.
“We cannot continue to languish in poverty. We go without food yet the market is lying idle,” Okello said.
He said traders should be allowed to do business before President Uhuru Kenyatta commissions the market.
The project was started after the Kenya Railways and the county government agreed and gave the national government seven acres of land for construction.
Trader, Gaudensia Aoko, said they lack business spaces and urged the county and national government to open the market.
“I was doing my business in the Lwangni area, it was demolished. We have been suffering. I was stressed and hospitalised. I took a loan and within two months our structures were brought down,” she said.
Aoko, a widow, said she has children to feed but lacks business space.
She said despite being allocated stalls at the park the traders said they cannot do business as it has not been officially opened for them.
“I have nothing to do, the bank is on my neck. I risk losing my few household goods,” Aoko said.
Trader, Florence Adino, said they were suffering and called on the government to rescue them.
“You expect our votes in August but how do you expect us to line up on empty stomachs to vote for you,” she said.
Adino said the traders depend on the market for their livelihoods.
Last year, there was a standoff between the Kisumu county and the national government over the balloting of the market.
The matter was later resolved with traders allocated spaces but are yet to be allowed in the market.
Last year, Kisumu city manager Abala Wanga said balloting was halted to allow further consultation on structure and organisation at the market.
He said the market is just a hall without portions which requires proper design before traders occupy the market.
“We have to take traders in a well partitioned and organised market. They cannot operate as if it is a jungle,” Wanga said.
With proper structures and organisation, he said genuine traders will all benefit, thereby blocking out cartels from the market.
He said some of the affected traders in Lwangni, Akamba and Winmart, amongst others, are missing in the list published by the county commissioner, Josephine Ouko.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
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