Opinion: STREET VENDORS ARE A NURSERY BED FOR PROSPEROUS ECONOMY (KYEMEZA GROUP)

 

By Ben Ssebuguzi 

Street vendors are self made entrepreneurs(Kyemeza people)who work in public spaces like roads, who sell goods such as foods,drinkers or household items directly to customers sometimes working door to door. They are characterized by lack of unemployment,low education and lack of capital among others.Recently they have been subjected to unfair treatment in the outskirts of the city without due diligence which has attracted us to come out to protect their plight. 

 

As Office of the National Chairman of NRM which is very pivotal in empowerment of the unpreviledged women and youths to engage in money economy through start up tools grants, including chapati making tools, welding machines among others,we recognize small startups. I was not contented with the manner in which street vendors evictions in some parts of the country was handled by relevant authorities. 

 

To be frank,apart from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) which had planned well to evict street vendors through construction of Usafi, Busega and Wandegeya markets, the rest of the evictions by local leadership specifically Gayaza was done in a harzadous manner with almost no ultimatum given to traders, which led to destruction of many peoples livelihoods.

 

 Other areas such as Nansana and Kyengera other suburbs have also faced the wrath of the authorities,Something that contradicts with President Yoweri Museveni aspirations of making every household prosperous in Uganda. 

 

Street vendors/hawkers are informal traders who are tributaries to commerce because they play a crucial role of facing and engaging final consumers directly where by if they are razed away by authorities can affect the value chain starting with our manufacturers, distributors,wholesalers and retailers who depend on them for survival. 

 

This means that when authorities handle eviction of hawkers or street vendors without proper planning and policy, the removal of direct interaction with consumers will affect aggregate demand due to lack of income, but also reduce the collection of enough taxes by URA to provide public goods like schools or roads hence affecting service delivery. 

 

As person charged with promoting wealth creation, Mzee didn't sanction the harzadous eviction of street vendors in the suburbs because there are no planned spaces like large markets such as Busega market to handle large influx of small traders to engage in wealth creation. We thank KCCA for designating evening markets and Sunday markets which has helped to prioritize an inclusive city. This is what the town councils and roads agencies failed to decode. 

 

In light of the above, in order to achieve our good development plan of achieving 10 fold growth by 2040,we call for proper policy and laws to accommodate street vendors in the value system as done in different countries. 

 

In South Africa,they have formal street trading policies that define specific areas for street trade to encourage economic development. The same is done in Vietnam, Thailand among others simply because they want to create a tailored economic system that suits their nature as developing countries instead of using bandwagon.

 

According to records, informal businesses are important sources of livelihood engaging 78-92% of our labour force and therefore contributing about 50% of our GDP. Street vendors also help in promoting growth of local industries since they have easy access to markets hence boosting the economic competitiveness of our country and job creation. 

 

In summary, While they operate outside legal and tax frameworks, street vendors need compassion from authorities by planning for them and regulating them through their leaderships,but not banishing them. Authorities can come in to prohibit them from obstructing road safety and collecting local revenue but not destroying their businesses. Street vendors need to be licensed , they need cheap credit and necessary tools to support them snd grow our economy. 

 

Long live General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Long live Hajjat Uzeiye Namyalo SPA/PA and manager office of the National Chairman. 

 

The writer is a graduate of entrepreneurship and small business management from Mubs and Researcher of the Office of the National Chairman of NRM