Govt halts operation of new Masaka City market
Vendors inspect sections of the newly-commisioned Masaka City market on January 6. PHOTO | RICHARD KYANJO
What you need to know:
- Mr Emmanuel Gakyalo, the Masaka City deputy town clerk, told the Monitor on Monday that a list of vendors who had been allocated stalls has been recalled by the Ministry of Local Government until they come up with a complete plan to allocate the facilities.
The delay to operationalise Masaka modern market has taken a new twist after the Local Government ministry halted the allocation of stalls.
Mr Emmanuel Gakyalo, the Masaka City deputy town clerk, told the Monitor on Monday that a list of vendors who had been allocated stalls has been recalled by the Ministry of Local Government until they come up with a complete plan to allocate the facilities.
“The city council intervened and halted the market stall allocation exercise that had turned chaotic after the market leaders went against the set guidelines,” he said.
This newspaper has learnt that shortly after the market commissioning ceremony on January 6, the market vendors’ leadership and a section of the city authority staff were entangled into wrangles on the criteria used to allocate stalls, despite the presence of an established guideline.
It is alleged that a section of the vendors led by Ms Beatrice Nakayiza, the market chairperson together with a section of the city councillors belonging to the National Resistance Movement party (NRM) led by Mr Vincent Ssentongo decided to allocate the stalls without involving other city council members.
But Mr Ssentongo told the Monitor that their intervention resulted from the failure of the City Council technocrats and councilors to fairly distribute the stalls among vendors.
“Our intervention was prompted by the confusion that had engulfed the stall distribution process. We were called in by a section of the vendors. Both the councillors and technocrats spent a whole day without providing any solution to the standoff,” he said.
A section of the vendors said a team from the city council ordered the vendors to randomly pick pieces of paper with written inscriptions detailing the stall numbers as a way of allocating the stalls, but the method was rejected by the vendors, prompting the suspension of the stall allocation exercise.
Masaka City deputy mayor Achilles Mawanda said the decision by the Ministry of Local Government to halt the exercise and recall the vendors’ lists is timely and will address any corruption involved.
“When the guidelines are clear, the vendors will finally get resettled at the new market. The resettlement of the vendors is overdue,” he said.
Mr Peter Kayiwa, a hardware dealer and one of the affected vendors, is optimistic that once their leaders and the city council authorities stick to the official guidelines, the allocation of the stalls will not be challenged.
Commissioning
Contractors of the newly-constructed market on January 6 handed it over to the city authorities and vendors in anticipation that they would commence work immediately.
The grandness that welcomed the modern market on the day of its commissioning has since been overtaken by ugly scenes of different groups, authorities and individuals pointing accusing fingers on accusations of lack of transparency in the allocation of market stalls. The market is located within the central business district.
BACKGROUND
In 2018, the government contracted Multplex and Alshams Company to construct a modern market at Masaka City’s central business district.
The construction was facilitated by an Shs18bn fund by the government in partnership with the African Development Bank targeting the promotion of Agribusiness. The construction was projected to last for two years, but the timeline was adjusted due to several challenges, including change in design for particular sections, and inflation among other challenges, according to the Multplex and Alshams Construction Company, Mr Moses Ndege Bbosa.
