Street vending: KCCA arrests buyers, vendors

By Mulondo Lawrence and Godiver Asege

KAMPALA Capital City Authority (KCCA) has arrested over 20 vendors who were operating their businesses along the City streets. Buyers were also arrested.

The suspects arrested while buying items according to KCCA will be charged with abetting a crime while the vendors will be charged with carrying out illegal vending.

The vendors and buyers were arrested at Old Taxi Park, along the City Square, Kampala Road while others were in areas around Kisenyi.

KCCA has been carrying out several similar operations insisting that vendors should use the legally set up markets where they can sell their merchandise.

The arrested vendors had different items ranging from bananas, fresh food stuffs, clothes, electrical appliances among others.

KCCA deputy spokesperson, Robert Kalumba will remove street vendors in order to turn Kampala into an organized city.

“Our responsibility is to get the vendors off the street, we need order in this city,” said Kalumba.

He however said that the property whose owners ran away will be kept in their stores for six months as they wait for owners to claim them or else put them up for auctioning.

About 50 vendors and buyers are netted on a monthly basis during KCCA’s operations.