Over the last two weeks, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has been relocating street vendors to gazzetted market places where they are provided with off-street areas to conduct business. 

One of the markets where vendors have been relocated is Usafi market where at least 300 vendors are adapting to a new life. 

Located in Makindye division, the market was established in 2013 to accommodate street vendors, many of whom had been driven off Kampala streets.   

However, according to the vendors KCCA needs to remodel the market and break a perimeter wall on Katwe road to ease access. 

On Tuesday, KCCA Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka visited the Market and toured the taxi park where vendors opened up about their concerns. 

Jerusa Muluka, a vendor at Usafi market who previously operated along Kafumbe-Mukasa road says the wall is hiding them from the buyers. 

Muluka who deals in gonja (plantain) says they are adapting well in the new place but says for fairness they must move everyone off the street. 

“For us, we have allowed coming here, they should support us cope well by putting all the necessary things in place,” Muluka says. 

Over the years Usafi market has remained largely unoccupied as KCCA continues to battle vendors on the streets. 

Siraje Kavuma, a pineapple dealer explains that KCCA should reorganize the market and improve on the zoning. 

“We need to be organized I can’t be selling pineapples and be in the same place with the retailers,” Kavuma says. 

Deogratious Ssemanda, the chairperson of Usafi Market, says there is more space in the market to accommodate more people.  

“If all people leave the street, we will make money here since customers will be able to find us in a centralized place,” Ssemanda says. 

He says the market needs a parking lot where vendors can offload their produce.  
According to Kisaka, KCCA is on the move to ensure vendors get safe legal trading places. 

She promised the vendors of Usafi that the wall will be broken with guidance from the technical people. 

“This is not a big issue we are going to modify the place. We want to make Usafi a quality market that everyone is proud of. We want to see more people coming to market and businesses thriving,” Kisaka says. 

She notes that under the smart city concept everyone has a role to play in making the city smart a called upon the people of Kampala to support it.