Some of the Merchandise soiled by floods in Kampala.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has announced that the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) will be involved in verifying the number of traders eligible for compensation following last year’s floods that affected arcades in Kampala.
Nabbanja’s comments come after a call from leaders of the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) threatening to go on strike over delayed compensation, despite concerns that the association itself contributed to the delayed compensation.
The affected traders had earlier asked KCCA to provide emergency support and requested a temporary suspension of rent and loan repayments to allow them to recover from their losses. They argued that the situation had been worsened by construction works along a drainage channel belonging to businessman Ham Kiggundu.
Nabbanja said that although President Yoweri Museveni had intervened to resolve the matter, the compensation process has been complicated by the conflicting information provided by traders themselves. She explained that when asked to provide the number of traders operating in the affected arcades, KACITA submitted figures that were significantly higher than those provided by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).
KCCA provided a list of 460 traders, while leaders of the traders submitted a figure of 2,000, and another list later indicated 1,600 traders, Nabbanja said, adding that the conflicting figures prompted her to involve ISO to verify the actual beneficiaries.
While ISO had begun investigations, arcade owners later submitted a separate list indicating that only 360 traders were operating in the affected arcades. The discrepancy has raised suspicions that the figures presented by KACITA may have been inflated in a bid to secure larger compensation funds.
Earlier this week, some traders held a press conference in Ndeeba, demanding that the government expedite the compensation process or face a strike later this month. The situation worsened last Friday again when several arcades in Kampala flooded once more, with traders sharing videos on social media showing merchandise destroyed by floodwaters.
-URN
