The Mayor of Aweil Town has ordered traders in the area to install solar power panels to curb the increasing crime rates at the main market there.
Garang Diing Deng issued the order effective 9 April, on Saturday in a move he believes will assist security personnel guarding the market with electricity.
Since its establishment in the early 1990s, Aweil Market has reportedly been operating without proper and constant electricity.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Mr. Deng urged all the traders to comply with the directive and purchase solar systems to protect their businesses.
“I had issued the order for all traders to acquire solar systems which we imported from Juba. Every shop must have light because robbers will decrease their activities and it will help the police who patrol overnight there,” Mr. Garang Diing stated.
He said traders who fail to comply with the directive will be fined a sum of 50,000 South Sudanese Pounds.
However, some of the traders in the area have rejected the order.
Those who spoke to Radio Tamazuj in Aweil said they were not consulted prior to the decision.
Awol Amuk, a businessman in Aweil Town, said: “The Mayor was supposed to conduct a meeting at first, such thing cannot be made with orders but it is done through an agreement so that people can negotiate who can afford and who cannot.”
A representative of the Chamber of Commerce in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State said the order has also been faced with resistance from his administration.
Malong Deng Nyuany said traders in the area lack enough capital to purchase all the necessary power equipment.
“The town mayor has informed us about this but we said this one is untrue. Where will the traders get the money and there is no money at the market this year plus huge taxes?” He asked.