Hoima Reopens 30 Market Stalls as Traders Challenge Rent Markups

Thirty stalls at Hoima Central Market were locked for about two years while vendors needed space to trade, city officials say. Now the stalls have been reopened and handed to traders as authorities challenge the people claiming control over them. The intervention follows complaints that local leaders turned spaces in the government-owned market into a source of rental income, according to Nile Post Uganda (direct).

The alleged gap between official charges and what traders paid was substantial. Officials said city leaders and councillors secured stalls at Shs60,000 a month, then charged vendors between Shs100,000 and Shs150,000, depending on the floor. At the upper end, that was two and a half times the official monthly rate. The allegations concern access to public trading space, rather than privately owned shops.

A fresh start for stall registration

Resident City Commissioner Badru Mugabi led the operation, which included registering vendors again and opening disputed stalls. Officials, accompanied by legal and enforcement teams, spent much of Friday reviewing stall ownership. Traders were told to deal directly with the city council instead of intermediaries, placing the council at the centre of the new registration process.

Authorities also warned that people who resist the instructions or continue holding stalls irregularly could face arrest. The action followed a directive from Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, issued after vendors complained that councillors had allocated stalls to themselves and were charging traders excessive fees. The report describes allegations and warnings of arrest, not completed prosecutions.

Hoima Central Market has 108 stalls. Officials said many had allegedly come under the control of local leaders who charged vendors above the official rates. The 30 reopened spaces account for more than a quarter of that total. Mugabi said the people claiming those stalls had left them unused for roughly two years; officials have now made them available for business.

Public space, private charges

For Mugabi, the dispute goes to the purpose of the market. He said it was built to give local vendors affordable trading space and help small businesses develop before moving elsewhere as they grow. Leaders collecting money from traders for access to a government facility, he argued, ran against that purpose.

Mugabi said leaders should not be allowed to control stalls and charge vendors in a government market meant to support local traders.

Deputy Town Clerk Conerius Jobile said the city was relying on powers under the Local Government Market Act and would tackle the irregularities uncovered. He also said officials should address traders’ problems without waiting for intervention by the prime minister or the minister for local government, and urged residents to report issues affecting them.

The market’s LC1 chairperson, Moses Akugizibwe, welcomed the operation as protection for vendors struggling to earn a living. Attention now turns to the fresh registration, traders’ direct dealings with the council and enforcement against anyone who continues to hold stalls irregularly. Those are the steps authorities have set out as they seek to resolve control of the market’s public spaces.