No persons were feared injured, Thursday, as police clashed with traders of Ruiri market in Buuri Sub-County of Meru County.
It was gathered that trouble started when police in the area had a misunderstanding with the traders protesting a lack of cabros in the market.
“We staged peaceful protests at Ruiri Market because it is the only one in Meru County without cabros. We demand answers from our MCA Hon. Kalembe, who was given Sh5M for the renovations,” a trader said.
Speaking to Baite Tv, Sonko who has declared interest to unseat Kalembe said three lorries of marram had been delivered. He claimed that a lorry of marram costs Ksh 1400 and questioned how the Sh5M was spent.
“We intend to hold peaceful protests with women because we are saying that no woman will be regarded as useless because she is demanding for her right, that no man will be regarded as useless because he is demanding for his right and that no boda boda rider will be regarded as useless because he is demanding for his right,” Sonko said.
A trader said the county government should not collect fees because they will not pay them.
“A budget of Kenya Sh5M is said to have been set aside for the market’s renovation. The contractor who was awarded the contract poured five lorries of marram with stones in the market. When you go to the market, it is in a deplorable state, and we cannot stay there, yet the county government collects revenues every three days,” Manyara said
“We demand answers from Kiraitu Murungi’s government as to why Cabros have been installed in all other markets in Meru County markets except the Ruiri market,” he said.
A trader said that in a radio interview, Kalembe was asked what he was doing for the Ruiri market traders, and he said that he planned to install cabros.
“We want to know where the cabros are because we remit fees and want to know if the county government receives the fees remitted. We were asked to leave the market to make way for renovations. Our stalls were damaged when we went outside the market to build new structures. To avoid the scorching sun, we spent about 2000 Kenya Shillings to build new structures,” she said
“We were told that we would have to wait two weeks for the renovations to be completed by a committee overseeing the project, so we gave them an extra week. We have not received any communication in over a month and a week. When we inquired about returning to the market, Kalembe said we could, and we wondered how were was supposed to return without cabros having been installed,” she said.
A protester wondered why Kiraitu Murungi sent a contractor to the market rather than visiting with his committee and meru county officials.
According to a trader, Hon. Kalembe appeared to be completely unaware of the renovations. The traders, she said, have vowed to remain outside the market until the renovations are finished.
“Most of our items were destroyed when we were asked to leave the market without prior notice. The contractor appears to be drunk when he reports at work, and someone at the top appears to be protecting him because he is not performing his duties to a high standard,” she said.
We will remain outside the market until cabros are installed. The fees that we have been remitting should be used to purchase the cabros,” she said.
A trader said that Kalembe asked them to return to the market that had no cabros, despite the fact that they voted for him very early in the morning in the last election to represent them in the county assembly.
