Kisekka Market rioters injure police boss

Jun 16, 2009

HUNDREDS of Kisekka market vendors yesterday rioted, protesting the delay by the Government to hand them the lease to redevelop the market. For about three hours, traders and goons engaged the Police in running battles, paralysing the traffic flow in the

By Chris Kiwawulo

HUNDREDS of Kisekka market vendors yesterday rioted, protesting the delay by the Government to hand them the lease to redevelop the market.

For about three hours, traders and goons engaged the Police in running battles, paralysing the traffic flow in the city centre. The rioters, some of them armed with pangas, pelted the Police with stones. The Police responded by firing teargas and rubber bullets.

During the exchange, the anti-riot Police commanding officer, Benson Otim, sustained a deep cut on the head when one of the rioters hit him with a stone.

Several rioters also sustained injuries and gasped for breath in the itching teargas. The city’s main downtown shopping area was paralysed as the rioters ran amok burning old tyres and logs in the streets.

The chaos that started on Kyaggwe Road and William Street near the market spread to the New Taxi Park, Namirembe Road, Ben Kiwanuka Street, Old Kampala and Makerere Kivulu.
At least five people were arrested from different parts of the city and were detained at the Central Police Station (CPS) and Old Kampala Police Station.

Business came to a standstill on the affected streets as attendants rushed to close their shops. The windows of Fifi’s take-away, opposite Hotel Equatoria, were smashed by stones hurled at the Police by rioters.

In a surprising twist, at the New Taxi Park and on Ben Kiwanuka Street, taxi and bus operators joined the Police to fight the rioters. They beat them with sticks and put out the bonfires they had lit.

Kampala Central RDC, Rose Kirabira, arrived at the scene amid tight security but withdrew when the rioters rejected her pleas for calm.

When the traders started the strike at around 9:00am, the Police led by CPS Police commander Stephen Tanui, first engaged them in talks for about an hour. Several cadet assistant

superintendents, backed by a few armed constables, were seen addressing groups of traders in an attempt to resolve the matter amicably.

But the Police’s patience ran out when the demonstrators demanded to march through the city centre to the Central Police Station “where they wanted to register their case.” At this point, the Police resorted to teargas to disperse them.

Tanui later restrained the Police Anti-Terrorism Unit officers from shooting live bullets. “Where did you get orders to shoot live bullets?” a visibly angered Tanui asked. He directed the officers to retreat.

Andrew Sorowen, the Kampala Metropolitan Police chief, had earlier instructed that no live ammunition or teargas should be used. But when the demonstrators turned hostile, Sorowen later allowed his officers to use teargas and rubber bullets.

Sorowen arrived at the scene at around midday and talked to the market executive, led by their chairman, Robert Kisembo.

The Police chief convinced the market leaders to go for a meeting with officials of the local government ministry. The situation normalised at around 2:00pm but the shops remained closed for the rest of the day. By 5:00pm, the vendors were still camping around their market, waiting for the outcome of the meeting.

Kisembo and his group argued that President Yoweri Museveni authorised them to redevelop the market. They accused the Attorney General, Khiddu Makubuya, and local government minister Adolf Mwesigye of using delaying tactics.

“I think Makubuya and Mwesigye have ulterior motives. When we asked the mayor about the lease, he referred us to those two. There is something fishy,” said Tadeo Mugerwa, the traders’ Zone A leader.

Mugerwa explained that the about 8,000 traders paid sh1m each for the redevelopment of the market, on top of the sh50,000 membership fee to their umbrella association, Nakivubo-Kisekka Market Vendors.

Last December, President Museveni directed Rhino Investments, which had secured a 49-year lease to develop Kisekka Market, to vacate the place. The President instructed the Attorney General to evaluate and compensate Rhino Investments, owned by Col. John Mugyenyi.

Museveni argued that the practice of selling markets, where thousands of urban poor people earn a living, to private individuals was bad and would create urban serfdom.

The President asked Makubuya to help the vendors form one legal entity to manage and redevelop the market, which has since been established.

Recent media reports said the Government was going to pay about sh40b as compensation to Col. Mugyenyi.

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