Ouagadougou-Kongoussi axis: the ordeal of sellers after the reduction of checkpoints

2023-10-09 07:37:20

• Coaches no longer stop with passengers

• Sales have fallen and products perish

• Some had to resolve to leave

Lhe various checkpoints on the roads of Burkina Faso, whether police or gendarmerie, remain crossroads where many people pass through. And when several public transport vehicles pass each other, the passengers give the place the character of a fair where everything is bargained and bought, especially sweets. In this matter, those who are rubbing their hands are the men and women who offer these products. There route national 22, linking the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, to Kongoussi, the capital of the Bam province, 110 kilometers long, is no exception.

Even if she is currently feeling gloomy, the oldest of the place, Salimata Bagagnan, does not intend to move. (Ph:YS)

The first checkpoint on this axis is at kilometer 17, near the Kadiogo military Prytanée. The presence of police officers also encouraged the installation of numerous sellers of fruit, vegetables, water, fruit juice, bread, cigarettes, etc. which they offered to passengers of vehicles who stopped there for at least a quarter of time for the check. Unfortunately, things have changed over the past quarter as the security authority has decided to reduce the number of checkpoints. “I was in bed and they came to tell me that they were going to leave without giving me the reasons. Having certainly felt our bitterness, they tried to make amends by assuring us of their return in a week.” With these words, Salimata Bagagnan remembers the exchange she had with the police, when they came to officially announce their departure. She is considered the oldest of the place by all the saleswomen.

Present on the site for around twenty years, she has seen almost everything go by: the reforestation campaigns, the rain barriers, the toll station, the bitumen…. Owner of a restaurant, she offered drinks, soup, different dishes and employed several people. But that already seems to be history. “I could sell between 200 and 400 loaves of bread and 50,000 FCFA of Ghanaian bread per day. Today, I find myself with only 100 loaves of bread and 15,000 FCFA of Ghanaian bread, even selling it is very difficult,” she admits. On the morning of Wednesday, September 27, 2023, Salimata indulged in what has recently become his routine: sitting near his merchandise and hailing the rare passers-by on motorcycles to please take something.

Like her, the other sellers are also sad. “I was selling 4 to 6 packs of ice water and 200 apples a day. I can barely finish a pack of water and I stopped taking the apples because they were rotting here,” complains Aguera Bagagnan. His namesake and stall neighbor, Aguera Sawadogo, adds: “We don’t lack something to eat, otherwise it’s no longer the same thing as when the police were there.” With respective seniority of 10 and 5 years on site, they remain hopeful that things will get better again. “The departure of the police saddens us, but it is perhaps the price to pay for the return of peace, so we understand. Our wish is the return of peace to the country; thus, all activities will start again with a vengeance,” they convince themselves.

If there were more than a hundred, there are only around twenty of these women of all ages who earned a good living in Kamboinsin. Tired of waiting for customers who no longer come to them, some have decided to join them where they still stop. And for them, the closest point is 5 km away, at the gendarmerie brigade of the Commune of Pabré.

Moumouni SIMPORE