By Chol D. Johnson
The Mayor of Juba City Council, Christopher Sarafino Wani, has urged the vendors on the streets to look for conducive space for trading before the crackdown.
The mayor made the remark while touring the congested Konyokonyo Market on Wednesday.
In his message during the tour, he appealed to the citizens to stop setting up shops on public space, including the roads.
The mayor urged the current street traders to relocate inside the market space allotted for them to carry out their businesses.
He advised the traders to rent shops in the market, adding that there are still spaces for rent that can accommodate the current businesses being operated on the streets.
“I urge the vendors to rent shops rather than selling along the street, which sometimes causes congestion and accidents,” he said.
The visiting of the of the mayor with his deputy and all the official of city councils headquarter and Kator department was aimed at assessing the market
The mayor expressed that due to the unnecessary setting up of businesses on streets and in public spaces, the streets of the market or roads become narrow and also cause traffic jams for the citizens who are coming to market.
He expressed that some vendors are on the street and in public spaces because they wanted to dodge rent.
“Vendors think they will get a lot of customers when they are on the streets more than selling at the shops,” he said.
“I want to tell the vendors that markets don’t go after people, but people go to markets,” he added.
He called on the traders to maintain the market’s cleanliness, citing that the JCC leadership remains ready to inspect all the markets.
“We have come to assess the market conduction; we will visit all the markets in Juba, but we started with Konyokonyo and Malakia,” he said.