Soroti RDC bars hawkers from selling goods in gov’t offices

Soroti, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Soroti Resident District Commissioner-RDC Patrick Okumu has barred hawkers from accessing and selling goods around government offices citing security concerns.

Okumu says that some of the hawkers are spies who access offices with intentions of stealing while others hatch plans that compromise security in the district.

His decision comes barely a week after the theft of computers from the district production department by unknown people.

According to Okumu, the theft was conducted in a manner that would not raise any suspicion probably spies including hawkers who have free access to the offices

Joyce Ayo, a fruit vendor in Soroti says that the decision by the RDC will render most of them jobless. She said that although the RDC raises security concerns, there should have been better ways of averting such crime other than banning their businesses.

“I have been in this business for more than seven years and I have more than 30 customers who drink my juice every day in government offices. It’s not a fair decision to us,” she said.

Some of the district staff who talked to our reporter on condition of anonymity said that whereas the decision is for security reasons, it going to be costly for them to leave offices every day to look for food in restaurants.

In 2019, the Ministry of Health expressed concern over the rising trend of food vending around Kampala and other major urban areas across the country, warning that the business places Ugandans at high risk of contracting bacterial diseases like cholera, diarrhea and typhoid among others.

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