Some people from Bujumbura City Council avoid getting supplies from Bujumbura City Market (BCM) commonly called Sion Market, because of mud and stagnant rainy water.- By Lorraine Josiane Manishatse
Fruit, vegetables, small fish stands near stagnant and stinking rainy and muddy water at Sion Market.©Iwacu
When it has rained it is practically impossible to penetrate into BCM. Iwacu has visited the place and met traders who worry very much about many diseases that can occur at any time because the place is very dirty and unhealthy. “The major problem is that the market is very wet and muddy. It is not covered and the rainy water is not channeled to evacuate. When it is raining, all water remains stagnant and consequently the market becomes impracticable. In that case, we often close our stands because customers can not come,” regrets Pascal Rugonumugabo, a butcher selling meat at Sion Market. It is worth mentioning that the situation is alarming. Observing meat stands, flies are roaming here and there. Under those stands made of wood, there is a bad smell released from the mud mixed with other waste from different food elements that stink. Adidja Harerimana, a dry small fish seller shares the same view with that butcher indicating that they work in a bad environment. “We are not satisfied with the situation in which we work; rain water is stuck here, different sorts of insects roam around our products and bad smell prevails everywhere. Sometimes, I may feel nauseous and should not eat anything because of dirtiness and stinking smell,” she deplores. It is the same regret for A M, a fruit and vegetable seller in the same Market. “As I sell fruit that is freshly consumed, I worry that it can cause diseases to those who consume it,” she worries.
The reconstruction is urgent
According to Harerimana, that place is not appropriate for a market. “I ask the market’s owner to reconstruct it following hygiene conditions and norms; otherwise, the Government should give us another suitable place where we can run our business like the former Bujumbura Central Market,” she says. “Water from the market toilets remains near our stands. Surely, they easily cause people’s diseases. I urgently ask agents of Hygienic service to assist us so that we can work in a tidy environment full of good air,” angrily states a seller of palm oil. He also shows us people eating in a restaurant near a stinking puddle of water. “Here, there is everything. Food is less expensive than in other markets, but the problem is that the place is not clean and easy to penetrate. When it has rained I can’t come here,” deplores Kamuntu Aline, a young woman met there, expressing her view about the state of that market.
There will be improvement very soon
Clovis Nzisabira, the Bujumbura City Market Commissioner indicates that there is a project of rehabilitating that market. As far as dirtiness is concerned, he explains that there is a company in charge of removing waste from the market every day. “People should get hope. We have begun to draw gutters for evacuating waste water and rain water from the market. The market owner has promised that the whole market will be paved in 6months,” he highlights. Nzisabira informs that last week, agents from the Ministry of Public Health and Fight Against AIDS, in charge of Hygienic Service visited that market but they haven’t yet made any comment.
Iwacu has tried to contact agents of Hygienic service but in vain.
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