Small scale traders are count losses

More than 300 small scale traders at Soko Mjinga market in Homa Bay town are counting losses after flash floods swept their merchandise into Lake Victoria Sunday night.
The heavy downpour was accompanied by a strong wind that blew off the roofs of some of the business premises at the market.
Among those affected was former Gembe East ward Councilor George Ochieng who said he incurred over Sh100, 000 loss.
Ochieng added that most of their properties and households were swept into the lake by flashfloods.
Ochieng who operates a hotel appealed to the county government to consider constructing tunnels which could channel the flashfloods into the lake to avoid such destruction of properties in future.
His sentiments were echoed by the traders’ chairman Joshua Ouma who called on the county government through disaster department to assist the victims with funds to enable them restart their businesses.
Ouma said that most of them depended on their enterprises to eke a living adding, “Our children will not be able to go back to school in 2019 unless the government comes to our aid.”
He warned the county government to address the perennial drainage system problem at the market in a week’s time failure to which they would boycott remitting taxes.
By Davis Langat