Mbarara city to verify which vendors to occupy its market

A verification committee is a committee constituted by the Employer, in this case the city of Mbarara under the Local government, to perform the functions as such under the terms and conditions of a given contract.

This committee was formed in response to complaints by some vendors who said their names were missing on the list regarding who shall occupy the new market and who shall not that was displayed last week.

Market stalls at Mbarara Market Pulse Live Uganda

Nyombi Muhammed, the chairperson of the Vendors’ Association, says the committee brings together a cross section of vendors from the different departments of the market.

Muhammed revealed that the allocation of lockups/stalls will begin after the committee finishes its work, thereupon vendors shall be allocated lockups/stalls accordingly.

As this process gets underway, Asse Abireeba, the Mbarara City Clerk, says the committee is already in the market to listen to complaints from the vendors and take the necessary measures to address the same.

Abireeba says the 18-man Verification Committee comprises 14 vendors, two city officers, and two officials from the ministry of local government.

Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the Mbarara City Mayor, says the Verification Committee should consider vendors who were previously in the old market when carrying out its activities.

Raphael Magyezi, the Minister of Local Government, says the Verification Committee has only one week to validate the list of vendors and submit its findings to his Ministry for further management.

The market was completed wo weeks ago after Roko Construction Limited handed over the 21 billion Shilling, four-storied market located on Buremba Road Market to the Mbarara City Authorities after it had completed its construction work.

The market is vast, a spectacle to behold, with 485 shelters for vendors’ stalls, a Police post, a Children’s care Centre, an office block, and water harvesting tanks among several other facilities.

After the market was completed, Magyezi directed Mbarara City leaders to display the list of the rightful vendors. He revealed that the rightful vendors are those that were initially in the old market before its reconstruction began in 2017.

However, the list of vendors has attracted some controversy as Muhammed Byansi, the Mbarara City South Councilor, says the process of compiling the list of vendors was irregular due to the ministry of Local Government officials reportedly sidelining the city council authorities when drafting the lists of vendors.

The construction of the market started in July 2017 after more than 700 vendors were relocated to Independence Park.

The government awarded Roko the contract in 2018 at a cost of 21.11 billion shillings under The Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Project (MATIP) with funding from the African Development Bank.

Mbarara City is a city in the Western Region of Uganda and the second largest city in Uganda after Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.

The city is divided into 6 boroughs/divisions of Kakoba Division, Kamukuzi Division, Nyamitanga Division, Biharwe Division, Kakiika Division, Nyakayojo Division.

It is the main commercial centre of most of south western districts of Uganda and the site of the district headquarters.

In May 2019, the Uganda's cabinet granted Mbarara a city status, which started on 1 July 2020.