Owino traders petition Parliament

By Moses Mulondo

A section of Owino (St. Balikuddembe) market traders have petitioned Parliament accusing the leadership of hijacking the market for the enrichment of a few individuals.

A team of 20 vendors belonging to Owino Twegatte Development Association, Thursday presented their petition to the Presidential Affairs Committee calling for urgent intervention. They complained that whereas the Kampala District Contracts Committee agreed to offer a sub-lease to the vendors on condition that all people operating in the market are members, most of them had been locked out.

Documents presented indicated that several traders came together and formed St. Balikuddembe Market Stalls, Space & Lock-Up Shops Owners Association (SSLOA) which was in 2008 given the lease by KCCA after securing a loan of sh4b from dfcu Bank.

“We are about 50,000 traders in Owino market but the majority of us have been excluded  from SSLOA yet the President’s directive was meant to give the market to all of us, not to a few individuals. We request the Government to takeover the market through KCCA,” said Ibrahim Kitaka, the group secretary, as he presented the petition. They also requested the Government to help them develop Owino market as it has done in the case of the Wandegeya market.

The traders want KCCA to urgently organise elections in the market arguing that Godfrey Kayongo has been its leader for more than 16 years.  The traders complained that those who are opposed to leadership of Kayongo are harassed and sometimes their merchandise is confiscated. They also alleged that Kayongo recruited non-Owino  members in SSLOA and also involved his youngest daughter as one of the shareholders. They want the Government to prevail over Kayongo’s team to stop him from collecting monthly market dues of sh13,000 from each trader.

“If the money is collected to  pay the annual ground rent of sh200m, then each one of us should pay less than 2000. They are just enriching themselves,” said Anatooli Nsereko, the group chairman.

The presidential affairs committee acting chairman Col. Fred Mwesigye, the Nyabushozi MP, said: “There is evidence that SSLOA leadership has closed out some traders and that it lacks transparency in the management of the market.” He said in their recommendations, they would call for the involvement of all the traders in SSLOA and ensuring that they all participate in elections for new leadership.

Mwesigye said they would have Kayongo and his executive appearing before the committee next Tuesday, as well the minister for economic monitoring Henry Banyenzaki.

Judith Amoit, the woman MP for Pallisa, said: “There is every indication that Kayongo’s leadership team is acting selfishly.
They are closing out some vendors so that they get a bigger share of the dividends.”

When contacted, Kayongo dismissed the group saying: “I am not in charge of the management of the market. We employed professional people who are doing the work.” On membership, Kayongo said: “Everyone with a stall or lock-up has to contribute sh1m to become a shareholder because we used sh4b to pay for the land and we pay annual rent of sh200m. We had to raise the money for all that.”