Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has said that the only way to permanently resolve challenges of management of city markets is to have a law in place.
Lukwago made the remarks while engaging with the top city political leadership in a consultative meeting on the crisis in public markets and KCCA budget cuts.
Lukwago who read out the presidential directive on market operations highlighted the challenges the directive presents in the management of the city markets.
He said the directives by President Museveni envisage management of markets in the spirit of 1942 Markets Act which is outdated and cannot address the current challenges faced by city markets.
Lukwago stated that city markets have gone through a long period of management crisis from being managed initially and exclusively by municipalities to private companies, and later to vendor associations.
Kampala Central mayor Salim Uhuru said that president Museveni will be signing the law soon, adding that while meeting the president, he suggested that street vendors be permitted to use Nakivubo Settlement school temporarily during t festive season.
The meeting overwhelmingly rejected Uhuru’s proposal reasoning that the city has lost schools under such disguise before.
It also came to the attention of the meeting that plans are being mooted to buy 10 acres of land from businessman, John Bosco Muwonge at a whooping $100 million which is more than the KCCA budget and the lord mayor proposed that such funding be channeled to construction of city markets instead.
It was resolved that as much as there is a presidential directive in place, due processes have to be followed and special councils will be summoned both at authority and divisions to work out modalities for interim leadership to manage the markets awaiting the president’s signing of the Market Bill into law.
Recently, President Museveni issued a directive disbanding all the vendors’ leadership committees in public markets in city and ordered that all these markets be under the management of KCCA.
The directive has since left some vendors and their leaders confused but KCCA promised to traverse all markets to sensitise them in regard to the directives.
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