Minister orders Arua city leaders to vacate new market

Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of Local Government Raphael Magyezi has directed Arua city leaders to vacate stalls and lock-ups they allegedly allocated themselves in the new market.

His directive follows complaints by a section of vendors who accuse some officials in the city of owning stalls and lockups. The vendors accuse Sam Wadri Nyakua, the City Mayor of owning more than five lockups.

While presenting their petition to the minister during a meeting on Wednesday, Ahmed Miria, the Secretary of Owino Market Vendors Association, a temporary market that has remained operational after the relocation of vendors to the new market, said there was gross misconduct and corruption during their allocation of spaces in the new market.

According to Miria, some of the original vendors in the old market who had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ministry missed out on the allocation.

This forced minister Magyezi to direct officials who own stalls or lockups to hand them over to the office of the town clerk. The Minister says he is going to investigate the alleged allocation of stalls, lockups, conflict of interest, and corruption during the allocation exercise.

However, Arua City Mayor, Sam Wadri Nyakua has denied the allegations blaming it on cheap politics. Wadri says he is ready to be investigated.

Controversies over the new Arua Central Market emerged early this year, after several vendors who are in possession of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with the ministry missed out on the stalls and lockups.

The 34.9 billion Shillings Arua Central Market was constructed by the government under the Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Programme (MATIP) with support from the African Development Bank (ADB) and is expected to host at least 5,000 vendors if fully occupied.

Currently, there are at least 755 unallocated stalls according to records at the office of the city mayor.

In February, Parliament passed the Markets Bill, 2021, which among others seeks to ban politicians, and civil servants from owning stalls in public markets within their jurisdiction.

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