No hawking licence to foreigners, says govt

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives stopped urban and local government authorities from granting licences to foreigners who deal in hawking. 

In a February 2 letter, Ms Geraldine Ssali, the permanent secretary of the ministry, wrote to all local and urban government authorities informing them that they should cease granting such hawking licences. 

“The ministry has received various complaints from various stakeholders on some local and urban authorities licensing non-citizens to do hawking business. The Trade Licensing Act Cap 101 prohibits licensing of non-citizen as hawkers,” Ms Ssali letter reads in part. 
“The purpose of this communication, therefore, is to clarify this matter and request you to ensure compliance with provision of the Trading Licensing Act in your respective areas of jurisdiction,” she said. 

Ms Ssali’s letter follows complaints from Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) and Makindye West Member of Parliament Allan Ssewanyana that foreigners had started doing hawking business contrary to the laws. 
The chairman of Kacita, Mr Thaddeus Musoke Nagenda, welcomed the Trade ministry circular although they were not informed about the new directive yet they first raised the complain.

“It is us who complained to them, but we just heard about the released circular. They didn’t inform us. Since the issue is of concern to all the traders, they should have established committees, as we did doing Covid-19 enforcement, that would work with police and the traders to ensure that the law is enforced,” Mr Nagenda said.

Mr Nagenda said the traders know where the non-citizen hawkers operate from and stopping them would be effective if they are involved.
“Foreigners should remain in manufacturing and they supply to us, then we carry on with the wholesale and retail of their goods. What we are seeing is the reverse. They want to manufacture goods and then sell them to the last consumer,” he said. 

Immigration
In Kampala City and Wakiso District, the number of registered immigrants is 121,499, with the majority flocking to townships in Makindye and Rubaga divisions. There is growing discomfort among local residents as suspected illegal immigrants continue to arrive in major townships.