‘Restrictions, fines on Khartoum tea sellers cause suffering’: Union
The head of the Women’s Cooperative Union of Food and Beverage Sellers, says that tea sellers in Khartoum are suffering because of the ongoing campaigns organised by the authorities, the imposition of high fines and the ban on work on the Nile Avenue, the Green Square and the Land Port.
The head of the Women’s Cooperative Union of Food and Beverage Sellers, says that tea sellers in Khartoum are suffering because of the ongoing campaigns organised by the authorities, the imposition of high fines and the ban on work on the Nile Avenue, the Green Square and the Land Port.
In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Awadiya Kuku said that she was surprised by the application of the Land Violations Act on tea sellers.
She explained that fines are collected monthly from tea sellers in Khartoum without an electronic receipt.
She explained that the tea sellers who were stopped by the authorities from working are living in tragic situations that forced them to sell their household furniture in order to cover the expenses of their children and education.
She condemned accusing tea-sellers on the Nile Avenue of promoting drugs and pointed out that they have been working there for more than 10 years.
Kuku called for direct legal dealings with those caught in this crime.
On the efforts of the Women’s Cooperative Union to deal with the situation, she expected that the efforts would come out with the tea-sellers resumption of work on the Nile Avenue and the Green Square during the coming week.
She stressed that the union, which includes about 300,000 tea and food vendors, has started programmes to qualify tea sellers in the fields of electricity, auto electrics and carpentry, with the aim of rehabilitation within the framework of a strategy to reduce the number of tea sellers in the next four years.
The Communist Party has held the government responsible for financial and economic policies for the country’s current bread crisis following the Central Bank’s allocation of $200 million to buy wheat, medicine and fuel which will cover only 50 per cent of the country’s needs.
The party’s spokesman Ali Saeed played down the Central Bank’s intention to provide funds to import wheat at a time when the government has described the country as the world’s food basket.
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