Traders at Tororo Modern Central Market shut down operations Wednesday morning and stormed municipal council offices to protest high taxes and rental fees, disrupting business across the town.
The vendors, led by their Chairperson David Musana, accused council authorities of imposing excessive charges on market stalls and lock-ups while failing to regulate street vendors operating nearby.
‘We have moved to neighboring markets like Busia and Mbale where rates are much lower. Tororo Municipal Council is overcharging us,’ Musana said in a memorandum presented to the Resident District Commissioner (RDC).
Traders said the council charges Shs15,000 for a standard stall, Shs150,000 for a ground-floor lock-up facing outwards, Shs100,000 for those facing inwards, and Shs70,000 for first-floor lock-ups.
‘This is unfair competition,’ said Juma Magona Jamagara, a trader, adding that: ‘We are forced to reduce our prices to match hawkers who operate outside the market and pay no taxes, while we shoulder multiple levies.’
Other vendors raised concerns over working conditions. Restaurant operator Ocho Mukulu said shared kitchens have deterred customers, prompting some to consider relocating their produce to the streets.
Richard Onyango Jimmy, another trader, accused municipal officials of double standards, pointing to the council’s failure to collect fees from unlicensed vendors outside the market who sell similar goods.
The protest effectively trapped town officials in municipal offices as vendors surrounded the buildings to prevent their departure.
The standoff ended after intervention by RDC Hajji Sadik Bategana, who persuaded traders to reopen the market.
‘My office is in total agreement with you,’ Bategana told the vendors.
He added: ‘I am directing the council speaker to convene an urgent council meeting within 48 hours to address your grievances. Please resume business as some of you sell perishable commodities.’
Town Mayor Kenedy Orono Nyapidi responded that vendors were involved in setting the contested rates.
‘Before finalizing rental rates, we consulted sector heads who guided us on what to levy. I am surprised that they are now challenging the same rates,’ Nyapidi said.
He added that the council would not be intimidated by protests, noting that vendors who find the rates too high are free to leave, allowing municipal authorities to lease the stalls to other tenants.