BY BEN BILUA
Gizo

THE Gizo Market Vendors Association has welcomed the proposed Market Ordinance currently under public consultation, describing it as a timely and much-needed development for Western Province.

In an interview with Island Sun, the association’s representative, Lauretta Nasala, said the province urgently needs a market ordinance to strengthen the enforcement of market rules and regulations.

She explained that while Gizo Market already has internal rules, enforcement has remained weak due to the absence of a legal framework.

“People understand that the market rules have no legal threat and they continue to ignore them. “Most times, those who breach the market rules walk free,” Nasala said.

She said the proposed ordinance will be a game changer, not only in protecting market facilities, but also in empowering market wardens to carry out their duties effectively.

Nasala added that the ordinance will establish a proper legal framework for regulating markets, ensuring public health and safety, promoting orderly operations, and strengthening urban governance.

“At the moment, we do not have an ordinance, so issues relating to breaches of market rules cannot be penalised.

“This is sad because we are trying our best to ensure the market is clean, food is healthy, and the general management of the market is easy, but we have been criticised for failing to take action,” she said.

Nasala revealed that in some cases, vendors who breached market regulations were arrested but later released because there was no law to support further legal action.

“We did arrest some vendors who broke the market regulations, but we just released them because there is no law that allows us to take the matter further,” she explained.

Nasala reiterated the association’s full support for the proposed Market Ordinance and called on stakeholders and the public to support the consultation process.

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