How security raids, rally ban hit Nasser Road print trade 

In previous elections, the beehive of activity at Nasser Road which involves printing campaign T-shirts, caps, fliers, posters, badges, among others, to brand candidates and their supporters was at its peak.

Vehicles would queue up outside Nasser Road to transport the materials to the campaign trail. 

However, the measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic since March have disrupted these businesses.

 With the 2021 campaigns devoid of mass rallies, processions, and public gatherings, the printing business has suffered losses. 

The loss of jobs and collapse of businesses occasioned by the lockdown, means diminished income and thus little money for political advertising on the campaign. 

Currently, the famous printing centres on Nasser Road are a shell of their former selves. 
          
Mr Tonny Ssekitto, a tailor at Jemba Plaza on Luwum Street is counting losses due to the low demand for T-shirts, caps, and other related items. 

During the 2016 General Election, Mr Ssekito was brokering campaign T-shirt and caps between dealers and politicians which helped him make enough money to procure an industrial sewing machine that elevated his economic status.

“Out of the profits I made as a mere broker in 2016, I was able to buy my own land in Gayaza, set up my own place as a fashion designer and deal directly with clients. Besides, I employ other people,” Mr Ssekito told Daily Monitor.

He had anticipated to reap even bigger profits in 2020-2021 election campaigns but his hope has been shattered.

“I thought these  campaigns would bring bigger business and more profits since many youths have actively joined politics and they easily buy my products. Covid-19 has changed that so much because the T-shirts do not have high demand as I had thought. Politicians now mostly want facemasks,” Mr Ssekitto said.

He added: “The highest profit you can get off a mask is Shs500 compared to T-shirts that would yield Shs2,000 on each. Those masks go through a longer process to make than T-shirts,” he added.

On top of everything, the traders cannot sell campaign-branded facemasks which are customised to woo clients and maximise sales. 

Mr Ssekitto said people who are found selling or wearing Opposition branded masks are arrested by security personnel. 

Another tailor at Jemba Plaza, who only identified himself as Mark, said the situation has been worsened by security threats on the Opposition. 

He said traders fear designing red T-shirts, caps, berets or facemasks, which are the colours of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party and yet the supporters would have provided a big market.

“This season is has been very disruptive to our business. We had thought it would bring big sales since there is a fresh candidate (NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine) who appeals highly to the youth who easily buy. We thought we would reap big but the recent security raid on shops with red berets has scared us,” Mark said.

He added: “I have turned away three clients from the NUP party, who wanted me to make 3,000 aprons and masks. I would have made at least Shs3.5 million as profit but I cannot risk anymore.”

In October, a joint security operation comprising police and military besieged NUP party offices in Kamwokya, Kampala, and shops in Kamwokya, Kiyembe, Jemba Plaza on Luwum Street and other places to impound branded material like T-shirts and red berets.

Later, 41 people were arrested in the operations and charged in City Hall Magistrate’s Court in Kampala and remanded to prison on October 16. 
Many business people have since shunned trade in campaign related materials that bear Opposition branding. 

Kampala being an Opposition stronghold, it means traders have lost the biggest market for campaign materials.

“When security came in, the boy that was ironing some of the NUP party overalls and T-shirts I had worked on, was arrested and it was a hustle getting him out. I was strictly warned not to indulge in NUP party related material before I got him out of police cells,” Mark said.

Mr Emmanuel Ssempala, a Member of Parliament (MP) for Makindye-Ssabagabo Municipality, printed 50,000 posters in the 2016 elections.
 
But because this election is largely virtual and there are hardly big public gatherings and meetings of voters on the campaign trail, he has opted to print a few posters of 1 metre to 1.5 metres width to be pinned in major trading centres and other busy places within the constituency.

Thus many politicians have since refrained from making orders for posters and opted for door-to-door campaigns.

Mr Aggrey Lutaaya, a dealer in public address systems at Kyaggwe Road near Kisekka Market said the digital campaigns have denied him Shs540,000 he used to earn daily in hiring out his equipment to candidates during campaigns  in previous elections.

 Mr Lutaaya said he would also charge Shs700,000 for the public address system if the candidates hired it throughout the night.
The low reliance on campaign materials like posters has also affected people doing branding on other items including cars.

“Even the branding of cars is not happening as we had hoped. The candidates I used to do branding for on their cars said they decided to abandon the idea because such cars were mostly used during campaign rallies but the rallies are no longer in place,” Mr Joseph Musasizi, another  businessman, said.

Elsewhere in the country
Mr Steven Mateka and his colleagues under Buduela Kadodi Group in Busamaga, east of Mbale City, have also seen their dance business suffer for lack of processions and open campaigns.

“We always looked forward to campaigns because they not only give us chance to make money but also popularise the Imbalu [circumcision] dance,” Mr Mateka said.

“It is unfortunate that we are not able to do [open rally] campaigns this time round. Every week would fetch us at least Shs2.5m previously, and we would charge higher towards the climax of the campaigns because of increasing demand,” he added.

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