Africa-Press – Uganda. At least 70 kiosk operators, who operate near the Kayunga Town Council offices in Kayunga District have vowed to resist plans by town authorities to evict them.
Town council authorities led by the Town Clerk, Ms Faridah Kulabako, on Sunday claimed that the kiosks were illegally erected at the site, which is not meant for a market, according to the town’s physical plan.
A number of business owners, early last year shifted to the area adjacent to Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital, targeting customers from the busy health facility.
“We can’t have kiosks near Katikomu hotel, which is considered to be the biggest hotel in the district. It looks awkward, besides, the town has a physical plan which shows where a market should be. We can’t have chaos here,” Ms Kulabako said.
She said they plan to relocate the kiosks behind Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital.
The kiosks sit on land, whose ownership is currently being contested between late Malaki Kalya’s family, Kayunga Sub-county and Buganda Kingdom.
Although the kiosk operators claim they were given the land on which the kiosks are located by Kayunga Sub-County, the town authorities insist that the land is now managed by them (town council) after the district ordered the sub-county to relocate their headquarters from the town centre.
“We paid trading licences to the town council and we have operational permits from the health inspector and we wonder why the town clerk is evicting us,” Ms Betty Nattimba claimed.
“We shall not accept any attempts to relocate us to another place.
Resistance
They [town council authorities] are relocating us to an area where we shall find it hard to get customers. We have loans and many of us are widows,” she added.
Mr Tom Kasule, another kiosk operator, said they paid Shs100,000 as nominal ground rent to the sub-county for a year. The town clerk accused the kiosk operators of refusing to heed to her advice of not making any constructions in the area, adding that many of the kiosks were constructed at night.
“Kayunga will only develop if it is organised. We need to work together to develop our town, threats and abuses will not help us,” the town clerk said.
But Mr Joshua Kampi, the Kayunga Sub-county chairperson, said the town authorities have no power to evict the kiosks.
“We are the ones who gave them [kiosk operators] that land. If they [town authorities] don’t want kiosks there, let them give them a plan of the structures they want in that area instead of evicting them,” Mr Kampi said.
He accused the town authorities of evicting the kiosk operators in order to sell the piece of land to a businessman to develop it. But Ms Kulabako denied the allegations.
It is on this piece of land that Brig James Kinalwa, a serving officer of the UPDF, is constructing a commercial building, which the town council claims is illegal and that his building plan was not approved by the town council.
Late Kalya’s family has also directed Brig Kinalwa to halt construction works, which he has defied, insisting that he rightfully bought the land from Buganda Land Board at Shs35m.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
