One-Day markets come to Cairo

A new scheme is about to hit Cairo. In an attempt to prevent random street vendors from setting up on city pavements, the government is to introduce so-called ‘One-Day Markets’, markets held in certain spots on specific days

The new idea put forward by the government would transform a number of public spaces into small markets where vendors could display their goods. By the end of the day they should clean up, pack and leave till the following market day. The vendors may even peddle their ware every day at a different market, thus broadening their customer base.

On the surface the scheme appears without blemish. Yet it has met with no approval whatsoever from the vendors.

Nothing new

Street vendors are nothing new to Cairo or, for that matter, to any town in Egypt. Basics such as fresh vegetables or fruit have from time immemorial been sold on street corners or on wheelbarrows or donkey- carts which roam the streets with the vendors literally singing the praise of their ware in—more often than not—mellow voices and colourful phrases. Watercress is hailed as “sprightly”, lemons as “cure for whoever is sick”, and tomatoes as “crazy” since their price is never steady but rises and falls sharply according to the fresh crop.

In recent years, however, street vendors took to setting up stalls or even camping with their ware on sidewalks everywhere in Egyptian towns: in Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Luxor, Damietta, to name but a few. But they no longer sold only fresh wares. They traded in T-shirts, training suits, underwear, all sorts of garments, stationary, electric and electronic gadgets, slippers and shoes, eyeglasses, books; you name it you find it.

Frequently, the police would chase these vendors off the sidewalks but, once the police was gone, the vendors would be back in full force till the next raid. It was a problem with no easy solution; the vendors made for themselves a livelihood which kept them from joining the ranks of the unemployed and customers found goods at cheap prices. But shop owners bitterly complained of being pushed out of the markets by an inundation of poor-quality, inexpensive goods; pedestrians were forced off the sidewalks and; for residents in neighbourhoods occupied by street vendors, it was living hell especially that many of the vendors would resort to bullying tactics to retain their turf.

Downright menace

Especially in Downtown Cairo street vendors became a downright menace since, following the chaos that has reigned in the streets in the wake of the January 2011 Revolution, they took to spilling over into the middle of the street. In Talaat Harb street in Downtown Cairo, a major thoroughfare, vehicles could only drive single file after 4:00pm; the time the street vendors would set up their stalls on both opposite sidewalks and spill over into two of the three-lane road.

In the suburb of Helwan south of Cairo, the vendors who surround the main metro station in the town became such a nuisance that the residents last week took a collective decision to boycott their goods.

Finally, the authorities decided to take the matter into their hands. In order to permanently evict the vendors, the one-day market scheme was proposed a month ago. But to date, it has not been implemented. Many of the vendors were forced to leave, only to return again a few days later. The cat-and-mouse game with the police is still at its fiercest.

But why do vendors have against the one-day markets scheme or, as in the case of Giza and certain localities in Cairo, small stalls which the respective governorates have offered to make available to them?

This, or drug dealing?

“I am married to three wives,” Ahmed Sayed, one of the vendors, told Watani. “I have a large number of children [Sayed did not mention how many], which means I have a lot of commitments to shoulder.” Sayed said the one-day markets will not work because they are too far from where the vendors live, meaning he will have to pay to transport his goods to the market, “which will take the money from my children.,” he said.

“The governorate has already started to collect our IDs and places of residence as an introduction to the plan,” Sayed said bitterly. Unfortunately, he added, those few vendors who responded to the move found their takings low. “Does the government want us to do the only other thing we’re good at: drug dealing on street corners?” he asked menacingly.

Another vendor, Nadi Asham, described the new markets as ‘a place of exile’ where he and his colleagues refused to go. They knew very well where the best sales pitches were, he said.

“Street vendors, who make up some 4.8 million in Egypt, are a time bomb which the government should not provoke,” said Essam Mustafa, who holds a a bachelor’s degree in commerce and a diploma in economics, yet peddles goods on the streets. The figure he mentioned is unsubstantiated, but it is widely believed that the number of street vendors is something to be reckoned with. “If the police confiscate our goods, we will resort to paid hooliganism for a living,” he threatened.

“The governorate’s decision to replace the vendors with one-day markets in Darassa and Azbakiya [in Downtown Cairo] is a 100 per cent wrong decision,” he said. The government should offer suitable areas where the vendors would have all the facilities they need.

No shortage of customers

Local Development Minister Zaki Abdin stressed that after receiving approval of the Cabinet, a number of markets for street vendors would be established all over Egypt. “Because these vendors are also citizens who have found themselves job opportunities, they have all the right to have a suitable market through which they can make a dignified living,” Major General Abdin said.

The ministry would negotiate with the vendors to persuade them to move to the allocated spaces in the new markets as soon as they were licensed and commercially registered. “The law will be strictly applied in case of any violation,” he warned.

Major General Seif al-Islam Abdel-Bari, deputy to Cairo governor, explained that the new markets are planned at busy spots so the vendors would not be short of customers. The first markets will be set up at 15 places in Cairo, including Azbakiya, Bulaq, al-Waili and Downtown. Signs will lead to all the areas.

Raafat Abul-Dahab, secretary-general of the national association for consumer protection, applauded the fixed market plan. “Consumers can then refer back to the vendors in case the goods are faulty.” It was also important, he said, for the vendors to have to have easy access to commercial registration to tax discounts. Goods should be inspected to ensure they are valid and fit.

“One-day markets are familiar in many countries all over the world,” Mr Abul-Dahab said.