Open-air business vendors and passenger vehicle owners have hailed the Migori county government for commencing works to renovate the main Bus Park in Migori town.
Speaking during a meeting that brought together business owners in Migori town’s Central Business District, Kevin Omondi, a local businessman said that the renovation will bring an end to their miseries, especially during rains.
“I want to commend the county government and particularly Governor Ochilo Ayacko for being cognizant of the business hick-ups we have experience during rains. The final work of renovating the bus park will be a reprieve to us,” said Omondi.
The move to renovate the bus park came after the county government launched Mazingira Youth Programme, an initiative that aims to involve the youth in cleaning market places within Migori County.
The bus park, which was opened by the then Minister of Local Government Musalia Mudavadi two decades ago, later blossomed into an eyesore following a period of neglect that saw vehicles and passengers wade in muddy potholes.
The park was also taken over by open-air business vendors who often compete for space with PSV vehicles and passengers as a result of lack of a well-laid out market set for their activities around the facility.
Unfortunately sharing of space by the two completely different business types had always resulted to a messy environment as every individual struggled for space, either for parking or arranging their groceries, leading to physical and fatal fights.
The situation got even murkier during the rainy seasons as the blocked waterways stop the rain waters from flowing freely in damaged drainage, hence the common flooding that has been experienced within the town’s central bus park
As narrated by Beatrice Akinyi, a vegetable vendor at the bus park, the facility is always flooded during the wet seasons, giving them a challenge of where and how to arrange their vegetables.
“We the grocery vendors who do not have stalls or space to do our business and who have camped in the bus park, are forced to end business prematurely during the rainy season due to floods which log at the bus park,” she said.
The renovation of the bus park is a response to their long-time prayer, as it will provide space around the park and near-complete Marindi Market.
Thus, “We have no better way to thank the Governor and the County government for the swift move to save us from the bad state of the bus park and the general poor sanitation within around the facility by carrying out the renovation and regularly cleaning the surroundings,” she added.
Johanna Oyoo, a mkokoteni pusher who has been surviving on assisting passengers with their luggage to and from the park, said that the renovation will remedy the problem of potholes which have been slowing down his work.
“My service to customers’ needs a smooth ground, and this renovation obviously would make my work easier,” he said during a brief interview with KNA.
The stakeholders however, pleaded with the county government to also install a clean water system which they said is lacking in the town’s CBD at the park, as well as dust bins for storing wastes before transferring them to the disposal site.
“As we commend the Governor for a job well done, I wish to plead with them to install some water system in town to be used by the vendors for cleaning their groceries before selling,” said Peter Kwama, another businessman in Migori town’s CBD.
By Anjeline Ogal and Gabriela Xavier
