Authorities in Fort Portal City have begun the assessment and registration of vendors operating in Mpanga Market as part of the efforts to restore order, eliminate illegal stall ownership, and improve the management of the market. The exercise, announced during a meeting between local leaders and traders on Monday, requires every vendor to register using a National Identity Card before stalls are allocated by a technical committee.
Luboyera Majerani,the Fort Portal Central Division Town Clerk who announced the exercise, explained that the registration exercise is intended to establish genuine market vendors and ensure that government-owned stalls are occupied by rightful beneficiaries.
He added that they have realized that there are people who own stalls and lockups in the market but are sub-renting them to the current occupants, which he says is illegal. He reminded the vendors that the government is the sole landlord of Mpanga Market because it was constructed using public funds.
Mpanga Market was constructed in 2013 under the African Development Bank-funded Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Program for 11 billion shillings. The clerk warned that no trader should sublet or rent out a stall to another person.
He added that civil servants are not eligible to own market stalls and that traders should not occupy more than one stall to create space for vendors who were removed from the streets while implementing the trade order directives. The Town Clerk warned that trade order enforcement operations will resume to remove vendors who have returned to the streets or are operating from tricycles outside the market.
Mpanga Market was constructed in 2013 under the African Development Bank-funded Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Program for 11 billion shillings. He added that every lockup and stall must have a dustbin, noting that garbage collection fees will be based on the volume of waste generated.
He said waste will be weighed before collection, with traders paying 100 shillings per kilogram. The vendors welcomed the registration exercise but raised concerns over a number of challenges affecting their businesses.
Anna Kamuli a trader in the market said the verification exercise would free vendors from individuals who have been charging them exorbitant rent for the stalls. She said some traders had lived under constant pressure of paying rent to the landlords while at the same time meeting their tax obligations to the City.
During the meeting, the vendors questioned the proposed garbage collection charges, arguing that they already pay waste management fees as part of their annual trading licenses.
Lucy Kakwera argued that businesses such as hotels produce more waste than others and would be unfairly burdened if garbage is charged by weight.
Medruth Nema questioned why vendors should pay additional garbage collection fees, yet they already pay waste management charges as part of their trading licenses.
Elizabeth Kahwa appealed to the city to allocate space for traders who had been removed from outside the market while Lucy Namara called for commodity zoning and the construction of shades over lock-up shops.
Steven Sabiiti, the Mpanga Market Chairperson, urged traders to comply with the regulations explained during the meeting; however, urged that all vendors currently operating in the market had been legally verified and there would be no need to verify them again-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
