The relocation of street vendors to gazetted marketplaces is to spread to other cities in the country.

Currently, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is relocating street vendors to various markets in Kampala city, a process that began three weeks ago.

According to Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister for ICT and National Guidance, street vendors in other cities will also be relocated in order to bring about order.

“For now, we are doing it in Kampala because it is the face of Uganda. But we shall extend it to other cities,” Baryomunsi said on Friday.

In July 2020, Uganda created new cities – Fort Portal, Mbarara, Masaka, Arua, Jinja, Gulu, Soroti and Mbale – to decongest Kampala.

Baryomunsi revealed that Government is committed to making Kampala organised and smart and would like to see the same in other cities.

“We are not chasing away vendors from Kampala and favouring people with shops. Both should be supported to do business and that is why we are finding them (vendors) free spaces in the markets,” Baryomunsi said.

He said it is unfair for vendors to be left to operate on the streets, walkways or public places yet they divert customers who would be going to shops.

“We have business people in Kampala who pay rent and other utilities but cannot get customers because vendors display the same products on their verandas, this is not fair,” Baryomunsi said.

He rapped the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, for not supporting the exercise of organising the city into a better place.

“I have heard the Lord Mayor condemning the relocation of vendors. I thought he should have relocated them earlier. If you (Lukwago) prefer a disorganised and congested city, we are going to defer,” Baryomunsi said.

He asked politicians to stop politicising the issue, but instead, support it for the good of the city.

“When Kampala is congested, they blame Government for being disorganised. We want to organise the city, but they are complaining why we are relocating the people. What do want us to do?” Baryomunsi asked.

He said town clerks and mayors of various cities should start identifying areas where vendors can operate without any encumbrance. 

“Some people cannot go downtown because of the congestion and disorganisation. They fear there. You cannot even find parking; all spaces are occupied by street vendors. We want order in the city,” Baryomunsi said.

According to Lukwago, Government did not create proper markets in Kampala and does not have a proper plan for the urban poor.

“If they created markets in Kampala like those, they constructed upcountry, the situation would be different,” Lukwago said.

“The military they have deployed on the streets is not going to stay there forever. They are also going to turn it into a business, getting money from vendors and allowing them back on the streets. Those soldiers you see are also hungry,” Lukwago said.

In Kampala, Government has secured space in Owino, Kalerwe, Nakasero, Nakawa, Wandegeya and USAFI markets, among others.

The Minister for Kampala Affairs, Minsa Kabanda, during a tour of Usafi, Nakasero, St Balikuddembe and Wandegeya Markets over the weekend said KCCA had identified spaces which the vendors can occupy.

“Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has identified over 1,000 works spaces which the evicted street vendors can occupy,” she said.

Records from KCCA indicate that there are about 20,000 vendors in the five city divisions.

Kabanda told the market leaders that KCCA will give away all the stalls which were hired out by the original owners to create space for the street vendors.

“Leaders in the markets registered several people to occupy stalls, but they have never turned up, these are the spaces we are going to give out to the vendors for free,” she said.