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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | All dormant stalls and lock-ups in public markets across Kampala will be reallocated to persons in search of working space, the Minister in Charge of Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs Minsa Kabanda has said.
The pronouncement was made after an assessment on the status and availability of working space in public markets as the authority intensified operations against street vending. During the exercise, on Saturday, the minister learnt there are over 100 lockups that have been under lock and key for more than seven years, while some have been turned into stores.
According to the Wandegeya Market Chairperson Mayi Nabukenya, the dormant lockups were allocated to different people by the former market leadership with the consent of some officials from KCCA. As a result, she says, the 1200 capacity market has over 100 lockups closed, yet the owner’s are unknown.
She earlier told URN that several lockups have been turned into stores while others allocated to ‘ghost owners’ only known to the former market administrators, and all attempts to rescue them as well as other dormant spaces have failed to yield results.
Nabukenya accused the Acting Director of Gender, Community Services and Production Dr Esau Galukande of frustrating people who were seeking working space in the market, in favor of a few individuals.
But Dr Galukande said that before the Wandegeya modern market was redeveloped, the area had four markets where vendors possessed multiple stalls. He said that upon redevelopment, government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with vendors allowing them to hold the same number of stalls they possessed before the redevelopment of the market for ten years.
Kabanda said that KCCA will work with the market leaders to identify the dormant work spaces and re-allocate them to vendors including those coming from the streets.
The Minister and her team also visited Nakasero market where they were led on a guided tour by the market officials and found that the market was filled to capacity after allocating space to more than 100 former street vendors. Usafi, known as the streets vendors and hawkers market had also welcomed over 100 vendors since the street evictions intensified.
The Executive Director of KCCA Dorothy Kisaka upon concluding the tour urged street vendors to get off the streets and conduct their activities in the markets. She says Kampala needs to transform into a smart city.
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