Kampala arcade traders decry KCCA operations against 'shop displays'

______________

Kampala city traders based in arcades have criticised ongoing operations to restore trade order in the city for not sparing their 'displays' in the ongoing operations to wipe out street vendors.

The development follows the expiry of a two-week ultimatum issued by Kampala affairs minister Minsa Kabanda, urging street vendors, bodaboda riders, and taxi operators to vacate city streets and operate only within designated areas.

Following the lapse of the ultimatum, a full-scale enforcement went into effect at the end of last week, seeing hundreds of vendors and hawkers vacating the streets of Kampala city and the surrounding metropolitan areas. This has also seen enforcers confiscating shop displays situated in the shop corridors.

(Credit: Erinah Nabasa)

However, Kampala Arcade Traders Association (KATA) president Godfrey Katongole on February 23, 2026, told New Vision Online that the arcade traders affected by the removal of displays are those who rent shops, which are normally expensive and that tampering with their displays is tampering with their ability to meet their operating costs, including paying for taxes, licences, electricity and other costs.

Katongole added that to help the traders whose displays have been dismantled in the ongoing operation, they have written to the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director and the Kampala affairs minister seeking to meet with them and help them understand the importance of displays on shops.

Eviction hailed

Katongole hailed KCCA for evicting the vendors, but said he is concerned about the sustainability of the move. According to him, unless the vendors are allocated new working spaces, there is fear among the traders that those evicted will eventually come back onto the streets.

Other traders also welcomed KCCA's move.

Supported by the Police and other security personnel, KCCA began executing the clearance operation overnight on February 20, 2026, removing makeshift stalls and structures from major thoroughfares in the central business district as part of efforts to, among others, improve sanitation and restore trade order in Kampala.

“We have been patient with KCCA and have suffered heavy business losses due to the current trade disorder,” Harriet Namatovu, who operates a business on Namirembe Road, lamented.

“We now appreciate KCCA for coming up with the move to relocate the vendors and hawkers," said Dr Thadeus Musoke Nagenda, the national chairperson of the National Entrepreneurs and Traders Association (NETA)-Uganda.

“We note with concern that KCCA enforcement officers have been soliciting bribes from vendors, compromising the enforcement process and undermining fair trade practices,” he claimed.

Nagenda advised street vendors to take up the available stalls in gazetted public markets, which offer a safe and structured trading environment.