PICTURES | Night fire compounds EFRIS misery for Njeru traders
The market vendors association head estimated that property worth Shs100 million was destroyed in the fire.
BUIKWE | Fire fighters from private companies around Njeru joined the fire and rescue team from Kiira Region Police battled Wednesday night to salvage property and save Nile Market from being reduced to ash.
The business community at the market in Njeru Municipality Buikwe District woke Thursday morning feeling the wrath of an inferno that left them counting losses as goods worth millions of shillings were burnt to ash.
The fire adds to the bitter taste in the purse of traders, who have been protesting the new Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing System (EFRIS) that the taxman has introduced to shore up compliance in domestic revenue collections.
Mr Moses Nsubuga Mukuye, chairperson of Nile Market Vendors Association, says the cause of the fire is yet not known but they suspect it could have been a vengeance by some criminals, following mob justice where a suspected thug was killed by vendors this week.
The cause of the fire has not yet been established but some vendors led by their leader Moses Nsubuga Mukuye speculate that it could have been a revenge case of arson by friends of a suspected thug lynched in the market recently
"The fire could have been caused by electrical faults but we also suspect that the colleagues of the lynched thug could have masterminded this fire as a form of revenge," Mukuye said.
On Thursday morning, it was a somber mood at the market as vendors watched what was left of their businesses where they have been earning a living burnt to ashes.
A metallic stall could have withstood the fire but not the goods it contained as everything in it was burnt to ash. It was the story for many of the traders in Nile Market
Many vendors couldn't hold back their tears and some were seen collecting the remaining merchandise.
The fire which started in the wee hours burnt several wooden and metallic structures which serve as shops, stores and restaurants for Market vendors.
Mr Mukuye estimated that property worth Shs100 million was destroyed in the fire.
Some of the items like sewing machines that were partially burnt are salvaged from the aftermath of the fire even as they look pretty much done.
Some of the vendor collect what survived the costly Wednesday night fire that gutted Nile Market in Njeru.
