Entebbe Municipal Council will, effective July 1, 2024, close all weekly open-air markets, popularly known as “kabubbu,” except for one in Kitooro, Mayor Fabrice Lurinda has announced.
Also banned are mobile delivery vans or trucks vending foodstuffs, which he said will be impounded, and their owners charged accordingly.
Briefing journalists on various aspects of his jurisdiction on Friday, Lurinda explained that the decision had been taken by the council following the realization that the two distribution systems affected business performance in the main markets, which paid monthly dues to the municipal council.
Entebbe Municipality has been running four popular open-air markets a week, including Kitooro on Tuesday, Kigungu on Thursday, Nakiwogo on Saturday, and Central Market on Friday. Various other open-air markets are also operated in the neighboring Katabi Town Council jurisdiction, including Baita-ababiri, Kisembi, and Kawuku, among others.
“If the lorry or van man keeps distributing at the lowest price, the woman paying rent in the market is out of business. This is the reason the person in the market deserves protection,” says Lurinda.
He said for the same reason of protecting the established market vendors, the council had expelled absentee stall owners who were overcharging the vendors.
Lurinda also explained that the markets affected council revenue because vendors there paid only 3,000 shillings compared to established market vendors who paid dues ranging from 25,000 to 200,000 shillings a month.
The open-air markets, the mayor explained, have also had a contrary impact on the objectives for which markets like Kitooro were constructed under the MATIP (Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Project).
The decisions, Lurinda said, also followed the realization that the MATIP markets all over Uganda had proved a liability rather than an asset because their maintenance costs were higher than the revenue generated. He said, on average, the council collected about 4 million shillings from the Kitooro market but conversely expended 21 million shillings for its maintenance, which was unacceptable.
Though the vendors in the established markets were happy, colleagues who operated in the open-air markets told URN they were distraught about the decision. They said they are also paying dues and that if needed, the council should simply have implemented a small increment of the charges they pay.
Lurinda said those who felt undone by the decision just needed to relocate to the established markets where stalls were still available.
