By Paulina Poni
Traders in Konyokonyo and Munuki markets within Juba County have complained of running into heavy losses following the ongoing crackdown by security agents on small scale traders.
Most of those who spoke to the People’s Voice cited continuous harassments by security personnel who raid their wares and destroy their properties without any prior notice.
“You only wake up to find a bulldozer pulling down your premise, heavily armed security personnel in full combat gear are standby just in case you dare resist.We have really suffered, I can tell you it is full of regrets than celebrations”, says Susanne Poni who runs a food kiosk in Muniki market.
Like most of her colleagues, Susanne says that their businesses had suffered heavy losses over the past one month since the government of Central Equatoria state embarked on a massive demolition exercise targeting informal sector and particular makeshift structures erected on what is considered as road reserves.
The compounding situation coupled by high costs of transportation and heavy import duty, they say, had compelled them to hike prices of every food commodity.
“Food prices in the market have shot up because we cannot recover the losses; some of our wares were run over by the bulldozers used in demolition. I personally lost property and stock worth USD 6,000.I will never recover this because it took me several years to accumulate this investment”, said Sophia Abdi also a trader who sells dry fish and vegetables.
The 22 years mother of two says that most traders had opted out of business as cost of transportation, rent and even upkeep was so high.
“It takes one two days to bring goods from Kampala to Nimule then you have to stay there waiting for clearance by the customs authorities, by the time you get to Juba, the vegetables, bananas and even other fruits have started rotting, imagine you start counting your losses on the way. This is why we have to double the prices of the little that we manage to bring to the market”, adds Sophia.
Another trader Paul Pitia Jacob says that prices of commodities had shot up due to the fact that everything is imported from neighboring countries.
“Why can’t our government start planning for massive food production yet we have arable land?. The common person is suffering because somebody somewhere does not want to listen to his concerns. It is the situation where the well fed does not understand the plight of the angry”, says Jackob, a trader who deals in supply of poultry products.
He says that since his kiosk was demolished in Konyokonyo market sometimes last month, he has had to improvise a survival tactic, he bought a motorcycle and directly delivers the poultry products to his clients at their door steps.
‘My friend, here is a case of survival for the fittest, the cost of living is just too high, you can imagine I used to spend 1,000 Sudanese Pounds on my upkeep and rent bills, now, it is almost twice. A bottle of drinking water had shot up by 100 percent, how do you expect us to survive?, we have to increase price and at the end of it all the consumer suffers”, Jacob says with lots of concerns written on his face..
Milica Cheboi is a Kenyan trader who sells vegetable at Munuki market. She was lucky that her kiosk survived the eyes of the ugly and merciless bulldozer.
“We are only here because it is better than being at home where things are worse, the cost of essential commodities including cereals and vegetables has skyrocketed in most markets right from Ugandan markets where we get our supply from.”, Milica says.
Maize prices have increased from 300 Sudanese Pounds to 350 Sudanese Pounds. A two-kilogram packet of sugar has shot up to eight Sudanese Pounds up from the usual six. The cost of vegetables has also gone up.
“We are experiencing declined supply of cereals and vegetables, which have pushed prices up,” Mr. Phillip Mutai, a trader at Konyokonyo retail market, said. Some traders were hoarding cereals, he added.
There are fears that prices of commodities such as pineapple, cassava and millet which are traditionally grown in Western Equatoria state could as well go up because of insecurity.
“You see this is the planting season and most farmers have deserted their farms meaning farms are untilled, where will we get these commodities other than importing them to meet market demands?” Mutai asked amazingly.