Gicumbi: Byumba market traders claim theft of their properties, pointing on security guards

By The Inspirer writer. 

Traders in the Byumba market in Gicumbi District, which is dominated by shoe and clothing traders, said they were disturbed by the theft and put their voices on the security guards.

In the evening, they said, they leave their goods in the cages and locked them up, but in the morning they come back and find them empty.

“They stole clothes worth 280,000frw and ended up paying me nothing, the second time they stole my shoes but they stole one pair. So far, the officials told me they will call me in the meeting to help me recover such losses but they did not do that.” One of the traders said.

“Theft has been around for a long time. It’s not one or two people who suffered cases, it’s a problem in general. The reason we say they are the ones who steal from us [saying security guards] is that if we go home in the evenings we leave our goods safe by the time security guards arrive on duty and when we come back in the morning we find people have stolen our properties, [who can you points the finger on….?],” he said.

Market officials deny the allegations of traders saying that they steal from each other between them, adding that this theft is accelerated by lack of electricity connection in the market.

“The servants of traders come faster in the morning when we open the market at 6:00 am, they cut off the coffins of their employers, and take away their properties. The big problem is that district officials denied to electrify the market.” Said one of the market representatives.

Gicumbi District Mayor, Emmanuel Nzabonimpa said they are going to investigate and determine if the robbers are security guards and that the suspects would be suspended while the district will soon electrify the market.

“We are going to follow on the case and make sure we remain with good employees who are not robbers.” Nzabonimpa told Umuseke.

“We also realized that lack of light could also lead to problems, this will be discussed between the district administration and the Cooperative as well as traders themselves and we will look at how we can work together to solve the problem of low light,” he said.

The traders are urging the government to resolve the issue as soon as possible, as it could lead to losses.