Mombasa MSMEs on Fire as Kongowea Burns

Mombasa MSMEs on Fire as and bleeding end as fire ravages Kongowea market. Alerts from trusted sources showed a huge dark red cloud hovering on the skyline of Kongowea market. A business center that acts as the CBD of most people in the coastal towns of Mombasa and the neighboring ones. Fear has it that, Hundreds of traders in Mombasa County are set to count losses. The market has had several counts of the same menace, this happening only a year since the last one.

Just before the break of dusk on the 6^th day of June, residents and business people of Kongowea market whom most are the micro, small and medium sized enterprises ( MSMEs ) woke up to an inferno that has raised fears over uncountable losses.

In a clip posted on the digital pages of one of the Mainstream media, a huge inferno was seen at around consuming a wide section of the market as area residents and a section of traders watch helplessly.

It was not clear yet the exact time the fire broke out but reports of the outbreak emerged on social media minutes past Tuesday midnight.

The market which hosts many mitumba selling traders, is one of the biggest market centers in the entire region. It was not the first time, the market experienced such big blow, since in January 2020 MSMEs had to count losses as an inferno razed down the second-hand section where there were over 100 tailors and several food kiosks.

The cause of the then fire incident has remained a mystery to date.

It is still unclear whether the business owners had secured enough insurance to cater for the losses and either the protection of the people who serve them.

This comes at a time the country is undergoing major reshuffles in the economy, with hiking of taxes and other revenue related spots for the country to meet its debt burden. It is a blow to the traders in the market and the economy of Mombasa.

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Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho termed the incident as unfortunate and promised to compensate the traders who lost their fortunes, on an earlier notice in 2020.

To the time of reporting no relevant authority had issued directives or chances of what caused the fire outbreak. The county government needs to solve the fire issue for once since most MSMEs in the region have invested a lot in the market for their daily survival.

Another incident happened in September 2017 where a section of the market was reduced to ashes, as also a number of traders suffered injuries.

Mombasa, Kenya.

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