The history of Park Yard Market
THE establishment of Park Yard Market is rooted in the history of St. Balikuddembe (Owino) Market. Owino Market was started in 1971 by 320 vendors who were displaced from Nakasero Market because of lack of space.
By Anne Mugisa, Florence Nakaayi
and Juliet Waiswa
THE establishment of Park Yard Market is rooted in the history of St. Balikuddembe (Owino) Market. Owino Market was started in 1971 by 320 vendors who were displaced from Nakasero Market because of lack of space.
The vendors found an elderly man called Owino, who was roasting maize and sweet potatoes in the current location of the market. That is how the market was named Owino.
The initial structures were made of papyrus, which were replaced by iron sheets before permanent structures were built.
Owino, which is the biggest open market in Uganda and possibly in East Africa, is built on 7.04 hectares of land.
With time, it became overcrowded, forcing some of the vendors to move out to the expansive parking yard belonging to Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium.
The yard runs around the stadium’s perimeter wall.
Park Yard, however, is not a legally gazetted market. Owino currently has 50,000 vendors, 70% of whom are women.
An estimated 200,000 people visit both Owino and Park Yard daily.
The two markets existing side by side, are not under the same management, though the public mistakes them to be one.
Park Yard stretches from where Owino Market stops at Nakivubo Mews and skirts the stadium up to Namirembe Road and stretches to Kafumbe Mukasa Road in Kisenyi.
According to the chairman of the market vendors association, Godfrey Busulwa, Park Yard is divided into 26 zones.
The yard accommodates at least 25,000 vendors dealing mainly in second-hand clothes, shoes, umbrellas, household items and polythene bags.
Busulwa, who has operated in the market for 20 years, says there were about 3,000 stalls in the market and all the traders left their merchandise on site daily.
When the market started in the 1980s, it was managed by Kampala City Council (KCC).
KCC later contracted Equator company to manage the market.
Wrangles erupted in 2004, with vendors accusing the company of hiking market charges.
During the 2006 presidential elections, President Yoweri Museveni intervened and stopped urban authorities from imposing daily charges on vendors.
Subsequently, Equator lost the contract and KCC left the vendors to manage themselves under the Allied Park Yard Vendors Association.
Starting from March last year, the association has been remitting sh14m to KCC in taxes monthly.
Busulwa estimated the property destroyed in the inferno at sh50b.
Many vendors used to leave their money in the market. Busuulwa says many of them had loans from banks and micro-finance organisations like Centenary Bank, CMF, PRIDE and FAULU.
There have been several ownership wrangles in the market. The latest wrangle is related to the construction of a bus terminal inside Nakivubo Stadium.
According to Kampala mayor Nasser Ntege Sebaggala, the yard belongs to Nakivubo Stadium, which wants to create an access for the proposed controversial bus terminal.
The stadium management recently leased part of the land to Allied Bus Owners Company.
Busuulwa says the vendors have also been resisting this move to displace them in favour of the bus access road.
It has not been established whether the market was insured.
and Juliet Waiswa
THE establishment of Park Yard Market is rooted in the history of St. Balikuddembe (Owino) Market. Owino Market was started in 1971 by 320 vendors who were displaced from Nakasero Market because of lack of space.
The initial structures were made of papyrus, which were replaced by iron sheets before permanent structures were built.
Owino, which is the biggest open market in Uganda and possibly in East Africa, is built on 7.04 hectares of land.
With time, it became overcrowded, forcing some of the vendors to move out to the expansive parking yard belonging to Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium.
The yard runs around the stadium’s perimeter wall.
Park Yard, however, is not a legally gazetted market. Owino currently has 50,000 vendors, 70% of whom are women.
An estimated 200,000 people visit both Owino and Park Yard daily.
The two markets existing side by side, are not under the same management, though the public mistakes them to be one.
According to the chairman of the market vendors association, Godfrey Busulwa, Park Yard is divided into 26 zones.
The yard accommodates at least 25,000 vendors dealing mainly in second-hand clothes, shoes, umbrellas, household items and polythene bags.
Busulwa, who has operated in the market for 20 years, says there were about 3,000 stalls in the market and all the traders left their merchandise on site daily.
When the market started in the 1980s, it was managed by Kampala City Council (KCC).
KCC later contracted Equator company to manage the market.
Wrangles erupted in 2004, with vendors accusing the company of hiking market charges.
During the 2006 presidential elections, President Yoweri Museveni intervened and stopped urban authorities from imposing daily charges on vendors.
Subsequently, Equator lost the contract and KCC left the vendors to manage themselves under the Allied Park Yard Vendors Association.
Starting from March last year, the association has been remitting sh14m to KCC in taxes monthly.
Many vendors used to leave their money in the market. Busuulwa says many of them had loans from banks and micro-finance organisations like Centenary Bank, CMF, PRIDE and FAULU.
According to Kampala mayor Nasser Ntege Sebaggala, the yard belongs to Nakivubo Stadium, which wants to create an access for the proposed controversial bus terminal.
The stadium management recently leased part of the land to Allied Bus Owners Company.
Busuulwa says the vendors have also been resisting this move to displace them in favour of the bus access road.