Poor condition of Latrikunda market affecting sales

Toilet in bad state

The vendors at Latrikunda Market on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 told The Voice newspaper that the bad odor of the toilet at the market is affecting their sales since it is driving away buyers.

The bad odor coming out of the toilet is making life in the market unbearable and causing some financial losses to them, but a member of the market committee said they are doing everything possible to solve the problem.

Mariama Gassama, a vegetable vendor at the market said she feed her family through the proceeds gained from her sale, but these days, she fines it very difficult to sell because of the bad odor at the market.

“Some people will like to buy my products but when they look at the place they turn back and they will not buy, this is not good for us, and I continue to pay my duty,” she complained.

"Bad odor scaring away customers" - Mrs Gassama

She called on the Market Committee and the Kanifing Municipal Council, KMC to help them to solve the problem. She said: “We earn our living from the market and whether we sell or not, we have to pay our duty to the KMC revenue collectors.”

She lamented that she experienced a massive drop in sales since the market gets engulfed in that “bad odor”.

Badou Faal, the Head of the Market Committee claimed the committee is playing its role to make sure the market come back to its normal environment. “We are working together with the KMC to make sure that the welfare of vendors and buyers are guaranteed,” he said.

“The welfare of the people is the most important thing for us, but concerning the toilet the people at the market have not been taking good care of the toilets, so it will be difficult to maintain the toilet as it should be.”

He add that people at the market need to the take the toilet as their own, if that happen the toilets will always be normal.

Mr Faal noted that the KMC has given them lot of materials to work on the toilet and they have already started the process and promises that before the end of June the work will be finished.

“Let the people at market take good care of the toilet. Let them not say the toilet is not ours so we are going to use it any how,” Faal advised.

Another vendor at the Latrikunda Market, Mutar Secka fears that bad odor coming from the sewage can even affect their health condition because the bad water flow through the market and around their stalls and shops. “This could make us sick,” he said. 

Despite the complaints, the Market-Toilet Supervisor Famara Colley said the condition of the market is somehow better than it was before because they have done a lot of work to ensure that the market is hygienic.

He said they have a lot of problems on the usage of the toilet. Some people use the toilet without water and that make our work very difficult.

“Everyday we use to clean the toilet but when we come the following day the situation get worse,” he said.