MBARARA CENTRAL MARKET VENDORS FINALLY TO OCCUPY INDEPENDENCE PARK TODAY

John Aine

In Mbarara—

The preparation for Mbarara Central Market vendors to shift from their place to independence park  are on the way as the officials from Mbarara  municipal council and those representing the  vendors have agreed to start the process of allocating the stalls.

The secret meeting was held last night to set terms and conditions on how to get the stall from the new location of the central market.

The vendors accuse some officials of having already sneaked in their relatives whom they want to get in the market; the act they say is not good.

According to the Mbarara municipality mayor Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi , the process was to start  on Tuesday but there were  important issues they wanted to first sort out and they postponed it to today.

He said that they estimate the number of vendors to be over 350 and they first want to confirm the exact number such that there is no confusion as some strangers are also targeting to get in the market. He said that he have been hearing such complaints and that why he delayed the process of allocation to instead of rushing to make the mistakes.

The construction of the  new facility of the central market will start on  1^st /7/2017 and by that time  no vendor will be allowed in that market  to pave way for the contractors to start their work.

However, there are some vendors who subscribe under Mbarara Central Market Kiosk Owners Association who say vowed not to vacate the place unless they know the owner of the new market.

These ones claim that the council took the advantage of being super power and get the land title from the district land board yet they say that they occupied the place in early 80’sand the government is the one which sold them the land.

This group of people has around 70 members and they took their matter to Mbarara High Court accusing the council and Mbarara District Land Board of grabbing their land. The case was to be heard in early June before Justice David Matovu but it was adjourned to 13^thSeptember 2017.

But when contacted on that matter, Mayor Kakyebezi said that they are ready to handle any vendor who defies the council order of shifting from the central market by 1^st/July 2017 as they have alerted    all security agencies in the region.

www.mknewslink.com

wmuhwezi75@gmail.com