County urged to fast rack reorganization of town

Busia, Tuesday May 23, 2023 by

Felix Adhura and Jael Nambanga

A section of traders in Busia town have appealed to the County leadership to hasten the process of reorganizing the town.

Speaking to KNA within Busia town, the Organizing Secretary for matatu youth group Charles Wanyama said that demolition of their stalls has interfered with their normal business operations.

"Indeed, the town was much disorganized and we appreciate what the leadership has done," he said, adding that the contractor needs to speed up the work so that business returns to normalcy.

Wanyama further urged the County Administration to provide alternative areas for traders, who used to have their business premises within the bus stage.

“Some of the affected traders currently have no place to display their wares,” he said, adding that a number of them have been forced to stay at home.

Benjamin Chalo, a local resident, lauded the governor for initiating the good plan of reorganizing the town.

Chalo urged the governor to consider establishing stalls for affected traders so that they could hire them at an affordable cost.

Esther Nambieka, a Ugandan business lady operating her groceries business in Busia Kenya, called on Governor Paul Otuoma to create a conducive business environment as envisaged in the East Africa community protocol to enhance trans-border business.

Busia Chief Officer for Lands, Housing and Urban Development Solomon Abwaku explained that the move to reorganize the town was to attract investors and not harass local traders,

"Our plan is to re-organize Busia town to attract serious investors by providing proper social amenities and development. We have started laying cabros at the stage and aim at building less than ten kiosks of similar structures in cooperation with KeNHA,” he said.

Abwaku added that his department was also designating some plots where people would do their business hence cover the loss caused by demolition of the kiosks along the road.

“This will promote legitimate business by encouraging the people to pay tax and pay for their kiosk at lower fees,” he said.

He explained that the process of implementation was slow due to budget constraints,

“We expect it not to be fast since we are working under budget constraint. Our kiosks will be of low rent because we want to eliminate the issue of landlords who lease at high price and give almost nothing to the county government,” he said.

The process that started in January was met with a lot of resistance from traders some of whom staged peaceful demonstrations alleging that they were not issued with notices.

Courtesy; K.N.A