Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has vowed to rally his councilors in a bid to challenge the ongoing demolition of stalls at park yard market in downtown Kampala.
By press time, the market had been sealed off with heavy deployment; with 6 police patrol vehicles at the disputed market after the 30-day eviction notice traders received a couple of weeks back elapsed.
Mr. Lukwago while questioning the motive behind the many redevelopments in the city following the early morning demolition exercise revealed that he had convened council meeting.
He told KFM on Monday morning that, “We are doing our best to challenge the directive and I have called for a council meeting at 10am to review that decision and take drastic measures against the minister. He is just a matter of land grabbing, just like the commission of inquiry that has been set up to probe land matters in Uganda, Museveni and his government are all out to grab land.”
Over 15,000 traders at park yard market faced their biggest nightmare on Monday at 2 am when they were informed that the demolition exercise was to go ahead, and started two hours later.
Background
On February 8, Ms Kamya wrote to KCCA executive director Ms Jennifer Musisi requesting for the clearance of illegal vendors from Park Yard, Plot 26 Nakivubo Place. In her letter, Ms Kamya said she received a letter from the Board of Trustee of Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium asking her to extend instructions for vendors to vacate illegal stations. According to the letter, the minister had verbal communication with the trustee members, saying that they had discussions on how to develop the disputed plot of land.
