According to AllAfrica.com, the chicken traders who protested last week at the market accuse the council of planning to convert the slaughterhouse into 24-hour hotel and butchery. They said when the council closed down the slaughterhouse in 2006 because of a bird flu epidemic, it had promised to reopen it as soon.

Chairman John Ochieng said the council had failed to fulfill its promise. He said the council had started partioning the slaughterhouse for change of user. "On Tuesday, the constructors from the municipal came here with wheelbarrows carrying sand and stones. We want the council to tell us why it is converting this place to a hotel," said Mr Ochieng.
A letter to the town clerk from the association on 12 February 2009, the traders asked him to allow them to return to the slaughterhouse. In reply on 16 July, the chief Public Health Officer said the slaughterhouse was closed down by veterinary officers for health reasons. The Town Clerk Kaio Mbulusi has denied the traders' allegations. He said the council is only refurbishing the slaughterhouse and there is no resolution to convert it into a hotel or butchery.