Elegu vendors reluctant to relocate to a new market space

AMURU – Vendors at Elegu border market in Elegu town council in Amuru district are yet to relocate to the new market site allocated by the district.

In a recent interview with our reporter, a section of the vendors argued that the new site doesn’t have water and sanitation facilities, toilets, electricity, and yet it’s situated in the flood-prone areas of the town council.

Jafaali Malinga, a vendor who lost properties worth Shs10 million says, besides the lack of essential services like water, toilet system, and electricity, the new site is small and sits in an area prone to floods.

Malinga says, they would prefer to reconstruct their stalls at the initial market which was gutted by fire, but the district authorities have since blocked them.

Susan Bako, another vendor who before the inferno was dealing in produce says the allocation of the space at the new temporary site was not freely and fairly done saying, several people who are not the actual victims of the inferno have since occupied space leaving the real victims without space.

Bako further says, as a result, several of them were forced to vend on the roadside which is risky for them.

The town council and district authorities last week wrote a letter to the vendors directing them to relocate to the new site since the old site, which was recently burnt, was sitting on private land and that the owners wanted to develop their land.

John Kovuki Idro, the LCIII Chairperson of Elegu Town council downplayed the reasoning that the new site is a flood-prone area saying, the whole of Elegu has been experiencing floods all along. Such concerns were reviewed prior to relocating vendors.

Kovuki notes that currently, toilet and handwashing facilities are being constructed and wonders why the vendors can’t relocate to the new site.

According to Kovuki, a section of the vendors who have some connections with some high-ranking government officials are the ones confusing their colleagues.

“We have a challenge of some ministers, I can’t expose now because we are investigating who they are, and who are the vendors calling to make false allegations about their eviction from the old market site. What is true is that the owner of the current market that got burnt wants to develop their land,” Kovuki says.

Michael Lakony, the Amuru District LCV Chairperson says, they have resolved that they are going to forcefully relocate people from the old market to the new site so that the owner can develop his land.

According to Lakony, the vendors have until after one week to relocate or face arrests for selling in illegal markets.

“We want to save the lives and properties of the vendors by relocating them to the new market site which is just some meters away. If we fail to relocate them peacefully, then we are going to forcefully relocate them,” Lakony notes.

Elegu market hosts over 17,000 vendors. In the 2020 financial year, the government collected more than Shs199 billion in local revenue. The market has been hit over 3 times in the past two years.

https://thecooperator.news/vendors-seeking-government-support-after-elegu-market-fire-outbreak/

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