The chief of a market in Kandal province has been summoned to appear in provincial court on Friday for allowing authorities to continue to collect fees from small-scale market vendors, defying a directive Prime Minister Hun Sen issued earlier this month.
The premier’s order stated that non-permanent vendors selling agricultural products out of small baskets at markets and “all selling places” were immune to fees and guaranteed “security, safety, hygiene and an environment with good care offered by local authorities.”
Por Seng, chief of Sa’ang market, was called by Kandal Provincial Court prosecutor Lim Sokuntha “to provide clarification” on why such vendors were still being charged, according to a summons signed on Monday.
Some small-scale produce vendors in Phnom Penh on Tuesday said they, too, were still being charged.
“They still come to collect fees,” said Mao Pheap, 54, a vegetable vendor at Phsar Chas in Daun Penh district. “How can we as ordinary people tell them to stop collecting fees if they don’t even follow Samdech, who is the prime minister?”
