By Yusuf Obbo
Iganga municipality council has on several occasions engaged in running battles with street vendors as a way to force them back into the set markets around town like Mutukula, Railway yard and also central market despite not yielding results since many return as soon as the operations done which hasn’t been the case this time around.
Speaking to the Iganga Mayor bamulenzi Richard he said , street Vendors had congested the small town ,blocking roads for motor users in addition to making the town dirty by littering cabbage around town .”the operation will go on for a week and whoever is found on street after this operation they will be detained, property confiscated and charged in courts of laws or subjected to a fine Worthy 2Millions .
With assistance of police, the municipal enforcement team has cleared vendors from different streets connecting to Saza road and main highway which include ,Aso ,oboja and Ngobi road and several stalls confiscated .
Some vendors have Expressed dismay over the force used by the enforcement team that were confiscating property by force while breaking their stalls thus counting losses. they thus appealed to municipal council to at least allocate them other proper places to go instead of pushing them to the central market which will soon be demolished by the contractor .
Gabula Ezra the LC5 chairman of Iganga says the idea of chasing vendors around saza road has not been handled in a proper manner. ” Municipality has done bad to send off vendors from streets without allocating them proper place to settle ,as government plans to start the construction of Central market I think we should first leave the vendor, we should let people benefit more from the new road ” say Gabula.
The Rdc Iganga ,Wandera Sadara has cautioned the vendors hoping to defy against the orders put in place not to risk.
“These road side vendors are causing jam on the new saza road, they risk their lives. They set their stalls and block access of vehicles but also these vendors have no control over their garbage and at the end of the day the whole street is full of rubbish which we shall not entertain. The operations will continue.” says Rdc Sadara wandera.
Though some leaders have done what it takes to change the face of the town, Iganga municipality is still challenged by garbage in town which they relate to lack of enough and proper functioning Garbage trucks and cans thus contributing big to poor disposal in town.
