Hundreds of traders who were earning a living from the closed Eldoet Retail market are now staring at a bleak future.
This is after the County Government of Uasin Gishu failed to keep its promise of re-opening the market within seven days.
When chaos was witnessed in Eldoret town following a clash between a section of traders and county enforcement officers, Deputy Governor Eng. John Barorot announced the closure of the market.
Eng. Barorot however said the market would be re-opened after 7 days. It has now been about two weeks since the market was closed, and the county remains silent on when it will be reopened.
With the prolonged closure of the market, some of the traders now say they are struggling to take care of their families.
The market was all they depended on to earn a living.
Traders agony
“I now have two days without eating anything. All I want is for the market to be re-opened because this is where I would work to get something for my family,” an emotional Teresia Kiloo, a mama mboga trader at the market told journalists on November 30, 2022.
It is a similar situation for Moraa Mobegi. She used to sell wholesale mangoes at the market, but she now has no place to work from.
Moraa says the situation has forced them to operate from the streets, which is no better – they are constantly being harassed by county enforcement officers.
“Saa hizi ni kuhangaika. Tunabebewa vitu yetu. Tunakimbizwa ni kama tunauza bangi. Wanaamsha wamama mpaka mahali wamekaa,” she narrated.
“We have loans, we have children at home. I used to bring mangoes from Elgeyo Marakwet but even the place I was storing them in a building, they say they don’t want fruits there. Were will be operating from now?” she added.
The traders are now asking the county to keep its promise and allow them back into the market.
Rotting fresh produce
But even as they call for a return to the market, it has emerged that some of the traders might have lost hundreds of thousands of their stock that was locked inside when the order was made.
A visit to the market by the Uasin Gishu County Assembly Trade and Devolution Committee also revealed that fruits and other fresh produce left at the market had rotten.
This was however contrary to what the county officials had said when they closed the market. They noted that traders would be allowed to remove their items from the market.
“Whatever I have seen here is regrettable. Food has rotten yet the country is facing hunger,” noted Huruma MCA Kimani Wanjohi.
Wanjohi who doubles up as the county assembly deputy leader of the minority also said they had visited the market on a fact-finding mission, to ascertain the true situation of the market.
He further noted that they will use the findings of the visit to push for the re-opening of the market, as well as come up with legislation that will ensure traders are protected in the future.
