Although they welcomed the initiative to standardize their market after almost a decade, however, the women of Tallinding Gilipity Kunda market vendors, called on the government of the day, particularly Kanifing Municipal Council, to swiftly come to their  aid and speed up the building of their market for the residents of the area. The distance to the main Tallinding market is about 25-30 minutes and the majority find it very difficult to walk that long stretch for their daily grocery shoppings. 

Due to the aforementioned reason a few years ago, the people affected decided to converge a meeting with relevant authorities to explore their options and gauge how best they can come up with tangible and lasting solutions to lessen the burden of walking such a long distance to the market every day. After the meeting, they agreed to use the empty land beside the mosque to start a small market to ease the struggle of women, as well as empower men and women who want to venture in such petty trading.  

According to one of the vendors who witnessed the establishment of the market from the get go and wished to remain anonymous, explained how they started selling vegetables and other essential commodities in the market humorously named as (Marchè Yab Sa Jekerr). She said it’s been over 8 years since they started the business. Although it’s been challenging, she acknowledged that it has been a great source of income for them, especially her as she’s able to take care of her family’s immediate needs and children’s school fees.

She added that most of the pioneers relocated to other areas while others grew more wings and ventured into more lucrative businesses but emphasised that she’s grateful to be able to subsist on the little she earns from selling vegetables. She equally thanked K.M.C for finally deciding to build a standard market for them after so many years of struggle.

Following the decision of the Kanifing Municipal Council to extend the market, vendors were asked to leave the premises until constructions were done. According to them, it’s been several months and not much progress has been achieved. Majority of them are forced to sell outside the market premises until the supposed construction is done. They occupied every small hole within the area just to be able to sell their stuff. The situation forced others to completely halt business because there’s no place left within the vicinity to erect their stalls.

Modou Njie from K.M.C said, they signed a three months contract with the contractor. He clarified that the project was supposed to start since the beginning of this year but due to the sudden eruption of the current global pandemic COVID-19 coupled with the rainy season, they could not go ahead with the project as planned. Mr. Njie assured that work is ongoing and the time span of the project supposed to last for three months. He urged the disgruntled vendors to exercise patients promising that the construction will be done in no time.

By: Fatoumatta Samateh