Kampala calm as shops remain closed

By Vision Reporter

Some shops in down town Kampala Wednesday remained closed for a second day as traders meet.

Police have doubled the deployment following a traders’ strike over Pre-Import Verification of Conformity Standards (PVOC).

The leadership of Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) Wednesday convened a meeting for members at Diamond Hotel in Kampala to brief them on the outcome of a meeting with the trader trade minister held Monday night.

The traders are opposed to the fees involved in the exercise which they say is very costly.

Trade minister, Amelia Kyambadde, has categorically stated that Uganda is under pressure to implement Pre-Import Verification of Conformity.

“We are ready and willing to continue with negotiations with traders but we are not going to stop this exercise,” Kyambadde vowed.

She said countries within the East African Community were exerting a lot of pressure on Uganda to stop being a ‘dumping ground’ for substandard goods that were being re-exported into their countries.

Kyambadde said she had explained the traders’ stand to the President but he rejected any further suspension of the exercise.

The President’s stand is that we must go ahead with PVOC. We can’t go against what other sister countries are doing moreover when Uganda holds the chair of the community.   
 
She said consumers were also demanding that Uganda gets rid of substandard goods from the market.

The PVOC is meant to fight the entry of counterfeit, fake and substandard products into the country. Under the scheme, traders are supposed to import merchandise from an approved list of manufacturers.

Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) released the first list of goods subject to the Pre-Import Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programme.

Food and food products, electrical and electronics including solar equipment, chemical products including cosmetics, toys and mosquito nets have been chosen as the first imports to be inspected in their countries of export.