Gunfire rocks Nansana as traders battle law enforcers

Police at Nansana in Wakiso District were forced to shoot in air in order to stop the fighting between Nansana market traders and law enforcers who were evicting them from the public parking space which they had turned into a market.

The standoff followed the Nansana division authorities' decision to evict the traders who have been operating from the open space outside Nansana market.

The evicted group argued that they were forced to come out of the market to look for customers because they were not getting them inside the market. They claim the market was obstructed by the lockups saying that they should be broken so that the market becomes open to the public.

Nansana market traders stranded after being evicted from the parking space near the market from where they have been operating.

 
The traders accused the law enforcers of taking their goods during the exercise.

Musa Kavuma, the town clerk of Nansana division said that the eviction was intended to bring order in the town of Nansana because the parking that had been turned into a market is on a main road and it has been causing a lot of congestion.

Susan Nalusiba, the tenderer responsible for collecting tax in the market told New Vision that traders operating from the parking space were evicted to save the traders who operate inside the market.

"The traders in shops had stopped paying tax saying that they have not been getting customers. Therefore, traders operating in the parking space had to be evicted so that they go inside the market," said Nalusiba.

She added that since these traders have been operating from outside illegally, the municipality had stopped her from collect the sh500 daily from each trader since April and this was intended to let them know that they were operating in a wrong place.