Women traders in Kibuye market in Kisumu are up in arms against the area market superintendent over blockage of trucks ferrying Irish potatoes to the wholesale market.
A trader, Pamela Oketch, said they have suffered a lot and now want the intervention of Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma.
Speaking to this writer at Kibuye market on Friday, Oketch said that they used to purchase the potatoes from some women next to Mama Ngina area, within Kibuye.
She said the distance between Mama Ngina and wholesale is wide and they were incurring heavy losses transporting the potatoes.
“To transport one sack from Mama Ngina to here at wholesale we used to spend Sh100 and sometimes you have up to 15 sacks. It was very expensive,” she said.
She said they formed a group of six women and took a loan from the local banks and are now transporting their own potatoes from Marakwet to the wholesale.
Oketch said market superintendent is against the truck ferrying the potatoes to the wholesale and wants it to offload the potatoes next to Mama Ngina.
She said they are reading business rivalry into the matter, noting that they will not relent to remain autonomous.
Oketch said Ranguma should intervene to support women who are out to do genuine business.
“It is our plea to Governor Ranguma to assist us and have the trucks offloading the potatoes here lest we will not be able to repay the loan we took for this business,” she said.