Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA enforcement officers this week yet again intensifed operations to get vendors off the streets.
The operations that were witnessed along Burton street in Kampala left many people lamenting and while others were seen looking on in grief as their belongings and items were being confiscated.
According to George Okitoyi, one of the lead officers in the operation, in a bid to ensure a smart, clean and organized city, KCCA will continue carrying out similar operations.
“Those individuals who were arrested will face the law, they will be charged accordingly,” Okitoyi said it has become a norm for vendors to operate from the verandahs of arcades and whenever they see authority trucks they flee into these buildings with their items.
He explained on top of disorganisation, the idea of road side hawking is a disadvantage to other vendors who are stationed inside the different market centres and also pay taxes.
“And KCCA has tried to oversee the establishment of markets to accommodate the sellers so we urge you to utilise them, the buyers will find you there,” Okitoyi added.
The move comes at a time when the issue of road side vending continues to pose many questions with very few answers.
On a daily, several congested streets of Kampala are flooded with solders and enforcement teams while vendors fleeing through pathways of shopping arcades for fear of being caught.
Despite all endeavors by the main body KCCA to curb on the vice, there is still no hope that it will come to an end. Similarly the fines posed on these groups of people also seem not to have impacted enough because the numbers keep multiplying each day.