The fire that happened behind the cooperative bank in the Umoja market area, in 2016 was an act of arson.
A trader who lost valuables in the fire wrote to Umoja News.
‘kuna ukor ilifanyika. ile moto ilichoma hapa kwetu haikuwa ya ukweli. Hi hawa watu walitufukuza’, he wrote.
When asked to elaborate more, the trader just muttered the word, ‘ni benki’.
At the time of construction, Cooperative Bank was at loggerheads with some traders who had refused to move.
Umoja Estate is a place full of stalls from small traders who often class with authorities as some of their stalls block pedestrian paths, their clients clog drainages due to poor waste disposal and crime.
The claims could, however, not be substantiated.
However, there are other incidents of fire in Umoja that have raised eyebrows.
Traders in the Outering road fire at Jam Rescue and at Tena (one person died) have fingered politicians and special business interests as being behind the fires.
Traders rebuilt after the fire incident.
