Vendors flood pedestrian lanes

A section of vendors in Kampala have resorted to selling their goods on non-motorised roads in the evening, causing congestion.

Although the non-motorised plan was meant to create a safe way for pedestrians and cyclists, many of them rushing to beat curfew can hardly manoeuvre through their lanes.

“Nyabo (woman) do not step on my tomatoes, otherwise you have to pay for them,” one of the vendors told a pedestrian on Luwum Street yesterday.

Mr Richard Mugabe, a cyclist, urged Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to regulate the vendors to create enough room for all motorists.

“When you attempt to speak about the vendor issue, people think you are not considerate but see what is happening; even if I wanted to ride my bicycle, how I am supposed to do that? At least let the vendors use one side and we also get a chance to use our bicycles, for pedestrians to walk freely. Otherwise, these vendors need the Jennifer Musisi (former KCCA boss) hand,” Mr Mugabe said.

As pedestrians are rushing to return home, vendors are their target.

“We also have to look for places which people use the most. When people are going back home, they always want to carry something for their children. For example, I sell fresh beans and peas. I bring them closer to people instead of them going to the market first,” a vendor said. In 2018, KCCA launched the non-motorised transport project. The pilot project began in November 2018 with one of the busiest routes.

Trips

A draft of the Multi-Modal Transport masterplan for Greater Kampala, states that more than 2.5 million non-motorised transport trips are performed daily in the metropolitan area.

A newspaper vendor, who preferred anonymity, said many of her colleagues who invade the cyclists’ spaces mainly deal in fruits.

“Most of those are fruit vendors and some of these women sell clothes. But the problem with fruit vendors is that they leave garbage on the streets which annoys the KCCA cleaners,” she said.

She said in January, a meeting was held between the vendors and authorities from KCCA and Kampala City Traders’ Association (Kacita) on how to resolve the conflicts between the authority and the traders. However, she said it did not yield any results.

“They have tried to discuss with these vendors but every meeting turns into an argument. The authorities from Kacita and KCCA were talking of getting a particular street for vendors but they (vendors) declined, saying there are already others on those streets,” the vendor said.

 Mr Andrew Kitaka, the acting KCCA executive director, said vendors are not supposed to invade space for pedestrians and cyclists.

He said KCCA was working on a plan where vendors will be allocated a day to sell their goods.

“We were actually thinking of designating market day on that NMT so that those who can sell some merchandise on the roadside because they have large walkways can at least have a day in a week but we are still working on it. So the other days, they are not supposed to be there at all and we are going to carry out some enforcement on that,” Mr Kitaka said yesterday.