Africa-Press – Uganda. A section of vendors in Mbarara District have accused city leaders of allocating stalls to ghost hawkers in the newly-constructed Mbarara central market.
The market that sits on an acre, was constructed by the government under the Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Programme (MATIP) at Shs21b from the African Development Bank (ADB).
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More than 700 vendors were relocated to the Independence Park in July 2017 to enable the construction of the market, which was completed in February.
Some vendors, who had been transferred have now been told to vacate, a decision they have rejected.
“Since our leaders were part of the whole construction process, it means they betrayed us because they are giving our stalls to people that were not part of the first groups,” Ms Patience Arinaitwe, a vendor dealing in irish potatoes, said.
Ms Arinaitwe alleged that leaders connived with some rich business people to sell the stalls.
Ms Prossy Kirungi, who sells tomatoes, said there is a lot of confusion as the Mbarara City Council released the final lists late.
“They have even done things in a hurry, they released the second list at 6pm on April 5 and we were expected here by 8am the following day so that they can go ahead with their dubious deals,” she said.
Ms Laurensia Nakyangya, a fish vendor, said they allocated a higher number of fish vendor stalls compared to the original vendors who were in the market.
“We were 22 fish vendors by the time we left this market in 2016, but now the number has been increased to 44, which is unfair to the original fish vendors,” Ms Nakyangya said.
She added: “They sold the stalls to their people and made us sign agreements of the shops that do not exist. Distribution of stalls has been politicised, they have betrayed us at the last hour and yet we signed agreements before leaving.”
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The chairperson of Mbarara Central Market Vendors Association, Mr Mohammad Nyombi, called upon the Ministry of Local Government to sort out the matter.
“Much as there is a committee in allocating stalls, we cannot make decisions on a project that belongs to the government. The traders are even complaining about their names being dropped off the lists and it’s devastating, I hope the responsible parties respond on time,” Mr Nyombi said.
The city mayor, Mr Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, said the issues would be sorted out.
The market has 256 stalls, which the city leaders have divided to be occupied by two people, which the vendors reject.
Response
The senior programme officer at the Ministry of Local Government, Ms Lydia Karungi, who represented the ministry, said they were following the guidelines of engineers in allocating the stalls.
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“No one is giving out stalls to strangers. The market is meant to accommodate all the vendors that earn little money; so, dividing stalls among vendors is inevitable because the lock-up [shop] owners have already agreed to this. I am following the design and plan given to me by the engineer that constructed this market, it is not my own making,” she said.
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