The Minister of Kampala, Beti Kamya, has directed the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to withdraw charges against all the hawkers who are on remand. In her March 12 letter, to the acting executive director of KCCA, Andrew Kitaka, she said the authority should also investigate the possibility of granting amnesty to hawkers who were […]
The Minister of Kampala, Beti Kamya, has directed the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to withdraw charges against all the hawkers who are on remand.
In her March 12 letter, to the acting executive director of KCCA, Andrew Kitaka, she said the authority should also investigate the possibility of granting amnesty to hawkers who were convicted and are serving jail sentences.
“This does not exonerate hawkers on criminal charges,” Ms Kamya said in her letter.
She also directed for the licensing of all hawkers who are operating in all taxi parks so that they are given permits.
Kamya, however, said the directive does not apply to street vendors who place their merchandise on the roadside and shop verandas.
She directed the leaders in different city divisions to designate a suitable place for allocation of street vendors.
It is against this background that the Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago called for a special meeting between all the division mayors, hawkers and the authority leaders to device means of licensing hawkers.
All the hawkers who were present in the meeting unanimously agreed to pay some money so that they are left to operate freely in their areas of jurisdiction.
They also accepted to be registered and given uniforms as a way of streamlining their businesses.
Lukwago called for a special council meeting today to decide on how much each hawker should pay.
The mayor of Nakawa Divison, Ronald Balimwezo, said he was also going to meet all the hawkers in his division today to agree on how to streamline their job.
