KCCA engages hawkers, vendors’ leaders on trade order

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director Dorothy Kisaka on Thursday had an engagement with hawkers to sell to them the idea of having an organized city.

The meeting came after months of tension between hawkers and the authority, which led the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago to sue KCCA.

Hawkers were banned from the city centre at the beginning of the year.

Kisaka told the leaders of hawkers and vendors that KCCA is promoting a smart city which requires building bridges and working together so that everybody enjoys the city.

"The city is for all of us, the rich, the poor, boda boda, taxi, and vendors among others but we have to be organized so that everyone gets a place where to operate. It is not good to operate on the verandahs and we don't want people selling items on the ground,” Kisaka said.

She assured the hawkers and vendors that the government is committed to ensure they get places where to operate without being disturbed.

"We must find places for them to work in and the government has committed itself to ensure that we get these places. So, we are identifying suitable places so that we can purchase them and also identify places where we can set up stalls for them to work," Kisaka said.

She commended the vendors for being patient and cooperative as the government finds better places for them to operate in.

"After Covid-19, every place was congested but we are thankful that we are coming together not in anger but work together to have a caucus with the leaders so that we can come up with clear ways of working together," Kisaka said.

With the coming of the Parish Development Model (PDM) strategy which is aimed at propelling Ugandans living in subsistence economy into the money economy, Kisaka said it is important for one to be organized to benefit.

The chairperson of hawkers in the city, Richard Lubega, said they have invested a lot in sensitising people about operating in gazetted places and have been waiting for an engagement with KCCA.

He requested that vendors should be allowed to operate in taxi parks in a regulated manner.

"We are not going to allow disorganisation because we also want a smart city. I am sure we shall find a converging point and agree on how vendors can remain in the city," Lubega said.

Rashid Ssekindi, the chairman of Uganda Taxi Operators Federation (UTOF) said since the start of the relocation of vendors they have lost about 30% of their customers but "are happy that the city is organized."

The purpose of the engagement was to forge ways on how to conduct business in the city amidst the changing face of the capital in light of the Kampala Smart City campaign spearheaded by the Authority.

This week Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago sued the minister of Kampala and RCC’s office to court over what he described as illegal operations in the city, following the crackdown on boda boda riders over licenses.

Lukwago said that the operation to evict street vendors and hawkers from the city is illegal because KCCA has no enabling law currently to enforce the directive.