Fatuma Hussein, a juice vendor at Garissa open air market speaks to the press on Tuesday. [Photo/Star]
Traders at Garissa open air market have threatened to stop construction of aSh1.5 billion modern fire proof market.
A trader, Abdi Nasir said the National government should halt construction the modern market since traders were comfortable with the previous market before it was razed down by unknown people last month.
“We are asking the government not to waste a lot of money to put up a modern market and instead provide 24 hour security for us,” Nasir said.
"The government should beef up security in the market to ensure that businesses are uninterrupted", he added.
Another trader Fatuma Hussein said the people who razed the market could be planning to raze down the market again.
“We have information that some powerful individuals were planning to use goons again to burn the market in order to scare away the traders from rebuilding their stalls with the aim of grabbing the land for commercial purpose,” Fatuma said.
She said they will defend the market by all means to keep off land grabbers who want to take the land.
“This is the only source of our livelihood and we have nowhere else to go. We are ready to defend the market at all costs because this is where we get our daily bread from” she added.