Market traders complain over street vendors

Street vendors are selling their merchandise on the streets of Kigali despite a standing ban. The vendors often engage in running battles with local defence personnel but still sell their goods at the slightest opportunity.However, registered businessmen and women in several Kigali markets are complaining about the City of Kigali’s failure to completely evict vendors from the streets.The traders argue that it is unfair for them to pay taxes and high rent fees for stalls while and the hawkers who evade taxes take over their customers.Jean De Dieu Nkurunziza, a vegetable seller in Nyarugenge market, told The New Times on Monday that there is unfair competition because he is forced to slash prices to match those of the hawkers who sell cheaply. “It’s unfair to us since it affects our prices yet we are the ones who pay taxes, but at the end of the day we end up selling less,” he said.Other traders in Kimironko market also raised similar complaints.The City of Kigali (CoK) says it has put in place measures to formalise the vendors’ trade in order to boost economic activity as well as revenues.According to CoK’s spokesperson Bruno Rangira, the city has so far constructed 10 mini markets to accommodate hundreds of hawkers, and also offered them training in entrepreneurial skills.Mini markets “Many of the hawkers are now in the mini markets and we have trained about 3,000 former street vendors. They are now successful traders in the formal business sector and have joined cooperatives,” he said.However, some street vendors insist it is not easy to set up a stall in a market due to the costs involved, including paying taxes.“You need about Rwf90,000 for the initial three months to set up a stall alone. We are still looking for capital, the market requires much capital and we do not have money. It is a tussle for us to survive on the streets since we are running up and down saving our products from confiscation,” Jeanne Mukeshimana a street hawker in downtown Kigali said.

National

Market traders complain over street vendors