Tension is brewing in the commercial hub of Redlight after the relocation of marketers to the Omega market in Paynesville.
Speaking to journalists Thursday in the portery market, the marketers, who spoke in an angry tone, Said their market building was demolished by Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee and the acting Public Works Minister Ruth Collins.
According to the spokesperson of the aggrieved marketers, Favor Yassah Johnson, the place in which they were selling was far from the main route to Redlight.
She explained that the market structure, which the MCC and the Ministry of Public Works demolished, was constructed on private land by the marketers.
She told journalists that the newly constructed Omega market doesn’t have enough space to contain all the marketers that were selling in Redlight for their daily survival.
Also speaking at the scene, the Chairman of the Civil Society Consortium of Paynesville, Joseph Koikoi, said government has no right to demolished market structure.
Chairman Joseph Koiko explained that the portray market is considered as a community market, and as such, the government needs to rethink its’ decision by constructing the market building.
He noted that based on the current economy, constraints faced by Liberian marketers need to be provided an environment that will allow them to trade in peace.
Since the demolition exercise took place in the commercial hub of Redlight, there has been a series of unfortunate situations in the commercial district between the Monrovia City Cooperation, Ministry of Public Works, and the marketers.
At the same time, several Liberians have complained about the current condition in the Omega market in Paynesville, which according to them, if care is not taken, it might lead to the outbreak of another health crisis in Liberia.
