The National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party, has criticized Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for failure to put in place measures to ensure an enabling environment for businesses to thrive amidst infrastructural development.

Charles Basajja, the NEED’s General Treasurer while speaking at the party offices in Rubaga said that, several traders from Kampala and its surroundings have approached them decrying of KCCA’s two weeks-notice demanding them to vacate the city to allow renovations to take place in preparation for the 19^th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Group of Seventy Seven (G-77) +China summits slated for January 2024.

“This culture of cleaning up only when visitors are coming in detriment of our local inhabitants is absurd. And the two weeks-notice issued by KCCA to the affected traders in contrast with one’s business that has taken them five years to put up is unfair, especially since these visitors are here for a few days,” Basajja said.

According to Moses Kisule, as traders, their main challenges and grievances are that the festive season has just begun and it is during this period that they are expecting to make a living, their children are back home for holidays and schools are still demanding for fees arrears, the cost of doing business is high, the tax burden is huge, and they had borrowed from banks of which expect them to pay.

“There is an unfair competition at all levels, and now KCCA comes vandalizing our businesses, yet it is the beginning of the festive season where we expect to make a living, this is unfair,” Kisule said.

Basajja further noted that, Kampala traders are suffering with the same recurring problems of bad leadership which is like cancer that never heals, with no clear mechanisms on how the affected are being helped to minimize losses as a result of the ongoing infrastructure and KCCA’s vandalism.

He said that, all the businesses being vandalized are licensed and operating within the law, adding that, the traders are tax payers who have been in operation long enough to know why the very authorities charged with operating and protecting the constitution turn around and cause mayhem to their people and businesses.

“We understand that justice is to the advantage of the strong and powerful. But what about basic instinct to survive? Let the government not mistreat Ugandans such that they benefit from every opportunity available amidst PDM failure, which targets the same people KCCA is mistreating,” Basajja said.

NEED advised that, government should engage and sensitize the traders, and groups of youth in preparation for the upcoming high level international summits and the 27^th Parliamentary Speakers Convention due to take place next year in January 2024, so that  every stakeholder can register success from the upcoming events.

Uganda is currently in high gear preparations to host the 19^th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit due to take place from January 15-20, 2024, and the Group of Seventy Seven (G-77) +China summit scheduled to take place from January 12-23, 2024, while the 27^th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) is expected to take place from January 3-6, 2024, all to be held at the Commonwealth Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.