WESTERN PROVINCE

RUSIZI — Kamembe market in Rusizi district lacks basic sanitation facilities. The market has no toilets which poses a health threat to traders.

Talking to The New Times, several traders expressed fear that they would contract cholera and other diseases due to poor hygiene.

"You can imagine the whole of this market has not even got a single public toilet. We have been complaining about this problem for the last three years but in vain and we are worried that cholera and other diseases caused by lack of hygiene may break out in the market,” a business man said.  

Another trader, a butchery attendant, said there is no water in the market and all butchers sell meat without washing it and the tables they use are not washed. The market located in Kamembe Sector, has over 500 traders and each individual pays Frw5,000 as market dues.

"Every person who works in Kamembe market pays Frw5000 in market dues and normally each month they collect Frw4millions from us. But we don’t know the reason why they have failed to construct for us toilets,” one trader said.

Contacted for comment, on Wednesday, Jean Pierre Turatsinze, the district Mayor, acknowledged the problem, saying the district was going to fix it.

"It’s really a problem in terms of hygiene for such a big market to operate without public toilets and water tanks, but we are planning to solve it very soon,” the mayor said by phone.

"Our district tender board is in negotiations with those who will construct the toilets and put in place water taps,” he added.

On average the market is visited by over 2,000 people daily. Some hail from Nyamasheke district while others come from Bukavu town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to sources.

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