Jinja market traders want street vendors evicted

Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Traders in Jinja central market have asked the city authorities to evict street vendors whom they accuse of frustrating their businesses.

During a tour to the market on Thursday by the Jinja city mayor-elect Peter Kasolo, the vendors stated that unlike the past leadership which spared street traders in fear of political persecution, he should jointly coordinate with the technocrats to ensure that they are evicted to maintain sanity within the city center.

The vendors note that since most commodities are scattered along the different streets within Jinja town, most people prefer buying from the street vendors instead of wasting their time to enter the shops or market.

With several stalls in the central market unoccupied, vendors want their counterparts to be resettled inside the market and occupy the empty spaces.

Siraje Bogere, a fish vendor says that most of his colleagues have lost business due to the many street vendors and the remaining few have also taken the trade to the streets. Bogere adds that city authorities should protect their livelihoods by allowing all vendors to trade within the gazetted markets.

Maria Nalubwama, a tomato vendor says that the presence of street vendors is a huge blow to their businesses. She says their perishable goods are currently rotting in stalls due to lack of customers.  Nalubwama states that if street vendors are resettled back in the markets, members of the general public will have no option but to purchase products from the market.

Monica Nakato, a cloth retailer says that since Jinja central market vendors pay monthly taxes, city authorities should rescue them from unregulated traders operating outside the markets.

Kasolo advised vendors to document their challenges which will be handled during his term of office. However, the market chairperson Henry Mugimba says that the technocrats are always willing to address the plight of stakeholders in the development but without political will, such initiatives are often frustrated.

The Jinja city spokesperson Rajab Kiito says that enforcement teams have been dispatched to resettle street vendors in the operational market spaces.

*****

URN