By Silaji Akutetenkereza and Kabuye Ronald
Kampala city traders association have threatened to hold a massive demonstration over what they have described as failure by the city authorities to deliver the required services to the tax payers.
The city traders Composed of 30,000 members under KACITA claim that KCCA has failed to deliver to their expectations yet they pay huge taxes to sustain the authority.
Some of the accusations and grievances they have against KCCA includes: failure by KCCA to fix potholes in the city which has increased their cost of operations due to break down of their goods trucks, prolonged traffic jam, closure of peoples businesses for failure by the landlords to pay taxes on shopping malls and massaging street vendors by shielding them as they continue to operate on the streets to the disadvantage of the traders who pay huge taxes and rent.
“Limited KCCA engagement with stakeholders, According to 2022/2023 budget framework, KCCA is expected to get sh420billion. This budget no longer supports stakeholders’ engagements like trainings among others. Additionally, in the current budget KCCA received UGX 26bn for the annual road maintenance which is different from the money for road reconstruction. The state of roads in Kampala is poor. Majority of the tarmac roads are old and need to be rehabilitated. KCCA has 2100km of roads, but only 600km are tarmac, the rest are marrum roads. This has affected the movement of goods from place to another thus affecting the business community.” Said Thadeus Musoke Nagenda, the KACITA Chairperson
Musoke thus urged KCCA to take urgent action in addressing their concerns or they shut down their businesses and resort to other sources of revenue.
In the same way, Musoke Thadeus Nagenda and Isa Sekito the Kacita spokesperson also called for an audit on the Kampala fly over project which they say is taking ages to be completed and the unfriendly bank rates respectively that has made their work hard.
“The Kampala Flyover project ongoing works have since paralyzed traffic on roads such as Mukwano, Ggaba, Kibuli and the sixth, seventh and Eighth Street in the industrial area. Mukwano road is a mess, especially during rush hours and this affects our business community. UNRA should expedite work and complete it on time so that our traders are not inconvenienced while transporting their goods. The Kampala Flyover project is being bankrolled by the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) at Shs224b. Phase two is expected to cost Shs659b.” said Thadeus Musoke Nagenda
“Bank interest rates are not friendly to the business community, the government through the Bank of Uganda has been engaged to lower the interest rates but in vein. This has been witnessed by the increased high interest rates by commercial banks. On the other hand, the small business recovery fund which was introduced to provide affordable financial loans to businesses that experienced hardships due to the measures undertaken to control the spread of covid 19 in the country, however, accessibility is hard, loan amount is little, and requirements are many. Many businesses have failed to access it due to the above restrictions.” Said Isa Sekito, the KACITA spokesperson
