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Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and KCCA councilors have Monday afternoon been blocked from accessing the cordoned-off Park Yard Market, with a group of stick wielding men forcefully ordering them off the premise.
Lukwago attempted to access the area after KCCA Council resolved to undertake a fact finding mission to establish what happened at Park Yard Market which was earlier fenced off and traders sent away.
Traders were left to count their losses as their stalls were demolished. Some traders were able to rescue their property before the area was fenced off.
Lukwago blamed the Police and Kampala Minister Betty Kamya for the incident and accused them of putting his Councillors in harms way.
“Our visit to park yard market was lawful as it was sanctioned by a resolution of the Authority that convened this morning. You invade the market on a Sunday night, cordon off the entire place without a court warrant or hoarding permit from KCCA, and then unleash terror on the business community and leaders?. Terribe,” he said.
Remains of the Parkyard Vendors Market in #Kampala.
10,000 vendors Evicted as Nakivubo Stadium Board seeks to build modern parking pic.twitter.com/miadkVQzOq
— Alex Otto (@ottojohnalex1) February 27, 2017
The resolution to visit Park Yard followed a special council session to discuss the order of Kampala minister Betty Kamya that the traders vacate saying the land belongs to Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium. Kamya had given the traders a deadline to leave the area, but it is 10 days ago.
The traders were evicted last night and the area fenced off to pave way for the construction of a parking facility by businessman Hamis Kiggundu commonly known as Ham.
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editor@independent.co.ug
