Minister Kamya intervenes in Kasubi market feud
Kampala Affairs minister Beti Olive Kamya. File photo
What you need to know:
The Rubaga division mayor, Ms Joyce Ssebugwawo, told the meeting that Buganda Land Board has land which it could sell to government to construct the market.
Many of the people who are offering their land for sale in Kasubi have no land titles, warning KCCA to first cross-check with the Buganda Land Board before committing any transactions.
KAMPALA. Kampala Affairs minister Beti Olive Kamya yesterday promised a one-month deadline to engage government to get a permanent area for Kasubi market vendors in Rubaga Division.
Her pledge comes on the heels of a looming tension among vendors ahead of the construction of the Bakuli-Kasubi road under the Kampala Institutional and Infrastructural Development Project with funding from the World Bank. For nearly three decades, the vendors have been operating on the road reserve but have now asked government to buy land and relocate them. “Let us go and research on how to solve the problem of Kasubi vendors because we need both the road and the market,” Ms Kamya said.
She was meeting Rubaga North leaders during a consultative meeting on the issues concerning Kasubi Market.
“I will write to the KCCA executive director to inform her about the plight of Kasubi vendors so that they could find land where to relocate them before road construction works begin,” she said.
However, she said government was financially constrained, leading to many projects to stall. The delayed resolution of this impasse has since resulted in wrangles between different factions of vendors.
Whereas others wanted to demolish Kasubi family primary school and occupy the land, the majority have opposed the move, insisting government must buy them land because they can’t lose the school. The Rubaga division mayor, Ms Joyce Ssebugwawo, told the meeting that Buganda Land Board has land which it could sell to government to construct the market.
“I have been in touch with Buganda Land Board and they have told me they have land. I ask government to negotiate with them so that our vendors could get where to operate from,” she said.
But the Rubaga North MP, Mr Moses Kasibante, challenged her to take the whole council to the said land so that they could unanimously see if its location is strategic.
“Evicting the vendors with an excuse that they are in a road reserve yet there is no place to relocate them is unfair. Government knows these vendors and it should commit itself to buying them land,” he said.
Mr Kasibante noted that many of the people who are offering their land for sale in Kasubi have no land titles, warning KCCA to first cross-check with the Buganda Land Board before committing any transactions.
