Hon Betty Kamya (BONK) stewardship of the Struggle for urban
space between Kampala City’s affluent and its impoverished street Vendors is
too mechanical, illogical and primordial. Ms. Kamya, the Minister for Kampala
should learn one lesson - that social problems mechanical force never solves
social problems quite effectively. Introducing mechanical and rudimentary
methods to re mediate socioeconomic inequalities and failed policies only leads
to destruction of life, the very essence upon which a safe, clean, and
inclusive urban space is contested.
Ms. Kamya is not the first Minister to moot this idealist
and yet simplistic proposal that the inner city is not for urban poor. She does
not seem to understand the dynamics of a city, Kampala City! This grandiose is
symptomatic of the bigger dilemma of poor planning that pervades nearly every
urban setting in developing countries.
Without taking Ms Kamya to the fundamentals of what a modern
city is, or should be, we owe her the duty to remind her that a city is also a
living entity on its own right. The city has spirits, faith and aspirations to
grow. As such, it must live normally, feed and excrete, breathe and expire; grow,
decline and renew; expand and sometimes shrink. It is for these traits of a
living organism that cities suffer wear and tear, grows old and at times large,
calling for repairs and expansion in its infrastructure.
In this milieu of liberal market economy, Uganda has moved
steadfast, into the money economy. The object of daily life is money. Everyone now wants money, irrespective of how
it is got. A 2016 Aga Khan University survey of 1,854 Ugandan youths found that
many young people value hassling and do not care much about integrity; and
value wealth, not minding much how one accrues their wealth, as long as they
survive jail, and interestingly, the youths believed that corruption is
profitable. Only 12% of those expressed interest in farming. In essence, the
flight of rural to urban of our working force in search for money is partly the
problem of Kampala City.
Second, Kampala is not expanding fast enough to accommodate
the infrastructure demands for the underprivileged- the ones Senior Presidential
media advisor Nagenda prefers to call the “unwashed” of the slums. While
dwellings for the corrupted affluent, working, and middle class individuals have
littered every hill around Kampala, affordable public housing, and commensurate
public facilities to accommodate the spillage of internally displaced and
migrant workers are not springing up.
Instead, the regime sells urban spaces for investments,
Malls. Land for poor people are appropriated by land-grabbers; widespread land conflicts, unequal
distribution of resources and services, and persistent natural disasters –
drought, landslides, presence of oil and so forth, brings people to Kampala. Many
Ugandans find themselves transitory. Kampala therefore is a collecting centre
of the victims of the chaotic life experiences in rural areas, and its
attraction for money opportunities allures many.
One would argue that street vending is harmful to the
economy of the City. It deprives legitimate and registered tax-paying
enterprises from profiteering and paying taxes. Upon scrutiny of this claim,
you find that street venders are only an extension of these businesses. They
are a ploy for the big businesses to evade taxes, and yet the city has no
modalities to tax the Vendors given their equally transitional businesses. Fair enough!
Maybe ED, Ms. Jennifer Musisi has learned a thing or two
from the Lord Mayor – that mechanical force cannot solve socioeconomic
inequalities.
For my contribution, I propose the formation of Business
Investment Area (BIA) within the City and tasking them to manage vendors. This
idea will form the basis of my next article. However, for now, BONK should go
slow. We should solve social, economic, and political problems with commensurate
social policies, not with brutality or mechanically.
End.
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