Mbarara Central Market vendors reject proposed fees

MBARARA-Vendors operating in the new Mbarara Central Market have boycotted the different fees that the city council leadership has proposed, saying they were never consulted about the same.

This happened last Friday during the consultative meeting held between the two sides at the city council premises.

During the reopening of the market in June, Local Government minister Raphael Magyezi gave vendors a grace period of two months as they sorted themselves, which expired in August.

According to the interim chairperson of the market, Emmanuel Muhumuza, vendors were not notified of the different fees they are supposed to pay to the council.

“We were supposed to start paying fees in September but were never consulted on how much we would pay,” Muhumuza said.

According to Muhumuza, parking fees per car Shs 1000 per hour. That means in a day one has to pay Shs 14,000 and when you multiply by 30 days that is around Shs 420,000. Some people don’t buy from the market because each boda-boda is charged Shs 1,000 every time they enter the market.

“We are not against the taxes but we want to know what kind of taxes we are paying and for what reasons because the taxes should be fair and affordable,” he added

During the meeting, Richard Mugisha, deputy city clerk, unveiled a summary of rental fees ranging between Shs 30,000-Shs 300,000 to be charged to the stalls, and lock-ups among others in the redeveloped market.

He said much as some vendors were unaware of the new market rates, Mugisha said they set the rates some time back, adding that they based on research, comparison, and several consultations from the technical planning committee and executive.

A restaurant operator in the market is supposed to pay rent of Shs 300, 000 per month while the other facilities are charged Shs 125,000. The lowest rental rate in the market is Shs 30,000 per stall per month.

The market vendors are also unhappy with the exorbitant charges levied such as gate collections, water, and electricity bills, toilet fees, parking fees among others, which they said are threatening businesses in the market.

Also Winnie Begumana, a vendor in central market says the rent charged by the council is exorbitant for them to afford on top of other taxes to be paid. “That is a lot of money that we cannot get from the market,” said Begumana

Phionah Komugisha, another vendor told council officials that the market was built for low-income earners but not rich people in town who can afford such rental fees. “If you count the utilities and rent totaling to over 500,000 plus 150,000 it means I will have to quit after a month,” said Komugisha.

Joel Asingura, a chicken vendor, asked the council why rental charges should increase all that high yet the stalls are similar to what they previously occupied in the old market. Previously, we were paying between Shs 15,000-Shs 30,000. Why are you overcharging us?” Asingura asked.

Brian Arinaitwe, a fruit vendor said the council set up the market fees without first establishing the challenges the vendors were facing.

“Businesses are not going on well, fruits rot down because there are no customers, and vendors are just coming to the market,” Arinaitwe said.

Winnie Begumanya, a boutique operator in the central market said:  “We have not agreed on the rental charges. We need them [council] to call another meeting to engage us so that we can tell them our income and expenses to determine how much rent they can charge us.”

Muhammad Nyombi, the former chairman Mbarara Central Market Association asked the city council to first consult vendors as per the market vendors’ registration and resettlement guide, which he says stipulates that council can only charge rental fees after consulting vendors.

However, Mbarara city mayor, Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, insisted that vendors must pay rent and utilities for them to operate from the new market. “We passed these rates in council and we have a minute to confirm which rates you are supposed to pay. What I can tell you is that you must pay whether you want or not.”

Kakyebezi also warned other vendors who are still loitering on the streets to join the markets.

“Enforcement team, you need to massively chase people vending from the streets, let them join the markets because we want to make markets very vibrant, we don’t want our markets to be empty,” he said.

The meeting ended prematurely as vendors walked away chanting never to pay such high rates to the council on top of other taxes that will be charged during the next financial year.

The regional market accommodates 1151 vendors operating in different facilities such as lockups, stalls, pitches (167), food court, restaurants, daycare, police post, and a Sacco office.

https://thecooperator.news/mbarara-market-finally-occupied-after-govt-intervention/

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