Businessmen Abandon Ksh260M Market a Month After Opening

Hundreds of businessmen have abandoned the Ksh260 million Garsen Market after falling out with the county government.

The traders told the media that they had decided to abandon the market after repeated harassment by Tana River County officers.

The traders abandoned the facility barely a month after it was officially opened, with others claiming that the market was poorly planned.

“All the businesses are linked. The green grocer supplements, the butcher and cereal sellers and vice versa. They cannot be separated,” one of the traders told Daily Nation.

Traders and customers pictured at a market in Kenya.

File

The market has faced challenges after it stayed idle for more than three years even after its completion as the contractor and the government fought over payments.

The traders were, for the period, forced to operate at Garsen Town.

The incident came a few months after traders in Kilifi County abandoned the Ksh32.8 million Gongoni market launched by Governor Amason Jeffa Kingi on June 27, 2020.

The traders walked out of the market on February 25, with many of them opting to sell their goods on the open field adjacent to the market as a way of protesting what they termed as exorbitant fees charged by the county government.