Traders, commercial officer clash over allocation of lockups in Kitoro Taxi Park

At least a total of 130 out of 314 traders who originally occupied Kitoro Taxi Park and later applied for allocation of lockups in the newly constructed taxi park clashed with Entebbe Municipal council Principal commercial officer accusing him of double standards. 

 The discontented traders accuse the principal commercial officer Stephen Mulindwa of being too greedy for money in addition to being too incompetent to handle issues affecting traders.

Mr. Mulindwa faced it rough from the traders during a meeting held last week where he presented a list of 160 traders who were successfully allocated lockups in the newly constructed Kitoro taxi park , a list they vehemently disputed saying some people on the list are well off yet the low income earners were left out.  

The disputed people on the list include Rosemary Tumusiime (EX-Entebbe Legislator), Rosette Kabuye ( proprietor Penniel Beach), Doreen Birungi( wife to CMI boss Maj.Gen.James Birungi), Kasozi Kiluweru( wealthy businessman), Eng. Kagoro Businge, plus politicians including councilor Jackie Mirembe, Asumpta Nakamya and Entebbe ONC Coordinator Gertrude Nabitete among others .

The dissatisfied traders noted that:   

“It’s unfair to leave out low income earners on the list and then you allocate lockups to rich people, some of them even own beaches and commercial buildings. People like Mulindwa should not be given the responsibility to handle matters affecting traders because he lacks public trust and to aggravate matters he is too greedy for money.

‘He has never been transparent in all the projects he has handled. We call for an audit on the list he presented to us and if possible to overturn it and generate a new list which is fair and transparent.  

The Entebbe Municipal council Town clerk should swiftly respond to our grievances and should overhaul the grievances committee that was instituted by his principal commercial officer Stephen Mulindwa.  The current grievance committee headed by Mulindwa is useless to us because it’s manipulated by him who seems to be the Alpha and Omega, “disgruntled traders expressed displeasure. 

The angry traders assert that  if their grievances are not handled well, they intend to stage a peaceful protest which will involve marching from Kitoro taxi park to Entebbe Municipal council Headquarters and later will demolish the fence fencing off the Taxi park.  They also demand the town clerk to fire Mr. Mulindwa on the allocation committee for Kitoro Taxi Park saying they lost trust in him. 

In his response to complaints raised by some angry traders, Mr. Mulindwa sarcastically told the aggrieved traders  that he maintains his list revealing that his office is screening 130 tenants on the pending list and out of these 80 tenants would be allocated the remaining 80 lockups on the third floor so long as they visit his office and speak the language his office understands.

He advised the dissatisfied traders to formally file their complaints to the Grievance committee that will in turn determine their fate before the taxi park resumes business on October 14, 2024.