Court comes to the rescue of evicted traders

Structures whose doors and windows were removed on Sunday night in Busia town. [Ignatius Odanga/Standard]

The High Court in Busia has barred private developers from interfering with a piece of land where traders were evicted from two weeks ago.

The court also ordered that their stalls should not be demolished. Justice Anne Amollo of the Environment and Land Court allowed the traders to use the land in Busia town for any purpose until the cases filed before her are heard and determined.

According to court documents, those sued are Agatha Nabwire, Denis Obanda, Christopher Omoding, Florence Amati, Florence Anyango and Jackson Onyango. Raphael Onyango, Cornel Bwire, Selina Wamboi, Alphonse Maiyah, Melkio Banda, Charles Mwangi, Paule Okeya, Fatuma Bilei are among the 21 plaintiffs.

The judge scheduled inter parties hearing for July 16. 100-odd traders were affected by the eviction carried out on the night of June 21.

Windows and doors of their business structures were taken away.

The plaintiffs said they were allocated the land in 1995 by the defunct local authority and county government has been collecting land rates from them annually.