Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Thursday donated 1,000 iron sheets and 170 wheelbarrows to traders of Suq-Muqdi open air market in Garissa town, who lost their wares in a fire tragedy three weeks ago.
The donation valued at over Sh1.6 million will go to 550 traders, majority of who are women who eke a living by selling groceries on wheelbarrows and makeshift stands.
This was the fifth time in 10 years that the market had been affected by fire. The root cause is yet to be established.
Addressing the press at the Garissa town club after the distribution of the donation, Garissa county commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo said most of the traders lost all their stock to the fire.
Mwabudzo said investigation into the fire is ongoing and that samples collected from the scene by DCI officers, were sent to Nairobi for further analysis.
“This is the fifth fire incident at this market. We sat down with the county government and agreed that we should get to the root cause of these fire incidences to prevent such calamities from happening in the future,” Mwabudzo said.
He said the design of a modern 750-capacity market that will cost over Sh500 million is complete and the tendering process is ongoing.
Mwabudzo said the contractor is expected on site within the next three months if all goes as planned.
He appealed to other well-wishers to assist the traders get back on their feet.
The market chairman Billow Adow, urged the county government to allow the victims to put up temporary shelters so that they can continue eking a living.
Adow said a number of traders who have tried going back to their burned spaces are being harassed by county enforcement officers.
“We have no problem moving out to allow for a new market to be put-up but for the time being, let the victims continue with their daily businesses without being harassed,” Adow said.
One of the victims, Ann Wambui, said majority of the victims require tents to shelter themselves and their groceries from the scorching sun during the day.
“Most of the traders at the open air market sell perishable goods that go bad easily when exposed to the sun. Our sincere appeal to the well-wishers is for tents to cushion us from the sun,” Wambui said.
They thanked CS Duale for his donation, adding that he has always supported them in all the previous fire incidents.
