KCC Battles Vendors Again

KAMPALA city law enforcement officers swung into action again yesterday, grabbing items in a crackdown to rid the city streets of obstacles, code-named ‘Operation Safe City,’ reports Geoffrey Kamali’.The exercise followed a warning by city mayor Ssebaana Kizito on Saturday that the next phase of the operation would be to relieve the city of all encumbrances along the streets.Mean-looking security officers riding on Kampala City Council (KCC) trucks, stopped abruptly and picked signposts, loud speakers and other merchandise displayed outside shops and threw them overboard.“Well, this is really good. The streets are now as clear as sunlight. If they could only keep it up,” Peter Bahemuka, a pedestrian on Dastur Street said.Other items seized included chairs and umbrellas set up by restaurants and take-away owners on verandas of their premises, extending to the streets. Only newspaper vendors and licensed shoe-shiners were allowed to operate.At the Vitafoam Mattress outlet on Jinja Road, an enforcement officer nearly exchanged blows with a shop attendant who tried to block him from taking a mattress that had been displayed outside.But prominent restaurants like Nandos and the Lebanese Restaurant on Kampala Road, which have extended seats on their verandas, were not affected by the operation. Newspaper vendors who sold sweets, groundnuts and cigarettes, had their wares seized, forcing them to flee to The New Vision offices. But other newspaper vendors remained on the streets.“Ours is an essential service. We don’t compete with shop owners, the vendors are clean and nobody is complaining about them,” said David Waweru, The New Vision marketing manager.The combined force of KCC law enforcement officers, the Police, the Local Defence Unit personnel and the Military Police, evicted the vendors from the streets in a massive operation but without any skirmishes.Ends