Weeks after the Ministry of Local Government’s “Trade Order” campaign landed in Jinja City, officials say verandas, back-streets and corridors along the many streets have been cleared.
Temporary and illegal structures in the once-popular Napier Market, known for its cheap prices especially of second-hand clothes known as ‘mivumbas’ and shoes, as well as foods and fruits in not-so- nice eating places have been either removed or razed down by the enforcement team.
These places have poor drainage systems and lack proper sanitary facilities like toilets and pose a public health scandal should there be a cholera outbreak or any other diseases.
The Kyabazinga Way from Amber court to Mairo Mbiri is now clear although a few dotted hawkers still linger around to sell soft drinks and other merchandise to travelers along the Jinja-Kampala-Iganga-Tororo-Malaba or Busia Highway.
Officials’ stance.
In Jinja, enforcement chief Sowali Mulyangere reports voluntary pull‑backs in Bugembe town Council, Mairo Mbiri, Wanyama Road, Budhumbuli, Mafubira, Namulesa, Mpumudde and other zones.
“Majority have voluntarily removed their kiosks or businesses from illegal spots and all illegal constructions have stopped and are applying to the Council authority for formal approval…”, Mulyangere told this website.
He is appealing to others who have not yet taken positive steps to do so to avoid inconveniences associated with forceful evictions that can destroy or damage their property.
The Central Business District (CBD)areas are now clearer, taxis are supposed to begin using the small congested park that was originally meant to accommodate about 300 taxis but now Jinja has more than 1000 taxis.
Mulyangere says in Jinja City their approach is more humane than all other areas where a lot of force is being employed.
“We are more on awareness campaign and we are happy that majority of the city residents have embraced the exercise willingly except a few who we continue to engage…” Sowali Mulyangere said.
How Trade Order hits them.
15‑24 year‑olds – many of them work in informal vending, saloons or hawking because formal jobs are scarce. Removing them from pavements without alternative stalls cuts their daily income and raises the risk of idleness or petty crime.
25‑35 year‑olds often run small kiosks or family stalls; they may afford licenses but need space in upgraded markets. If facilities are poor, they face higher costs or relocation stress.
Women/widows & single mothers and school drop outs frequently in the 20‑40 bracket, dependent on roadside sales like roasting maize; or gonza banana or selling fruits enforcement can push them into vulnerability unless social‑support programs are added.
So, the bulk of urban earners: youth and young adults, are the ones most disrupted, which is why critics warn the crackdown could fuel unemployment and insecurity if markets are not ready.
Hajji Khalid Muyingo chair of the Jinja Taxi Operators Association (JITOA) says the Council shot down their plan to buy land for a new park arguing the existing one is tiny and overrun.
Muyingo alleges that some greedy civil servants blocked the plan and that now Town Hall management is paying the price as enforcement stalls. He notes that the park was designed for 300 taxis but that Jinja alone has over 1,000 making enforcement impossible.
The push, launched under Permanent Secretary Ben Kumumanya’s 10‑March circular, applies the Trade (Licensing) Act, Cap 101, which requires every vendor to hold a license and operate from an approved site.
Trade (Licensing)Act Cap 101 basically says No License, no trade, one must hold a valid license for any business, according to Section 8 of the Act.
It says hawkers need a special license that states what, where and when they shall sell, according to section 16.
The Act also says “trade only in declared business areas set by the Minister, street-side vending outside those zones is prohibited according to Section 3.
Licenses must be displayed and inspectors can demand to see them, according to Section 14.
It is the legal backbone Jinja City’s Town Clerk Godfrey B.Kisekka is using to move vendors off pavements, corridors and verandas into gazette markets and spaces.
Butembe Constituency MP‑Elect Warns Trade Order May Join Uganda’s Shelf‑Dust Policies.
Grace Paddy Wanzala Kirya, the newly elected FDC MP for Butembe, welcomed the nationwide “Trade Order” drive but warned it could end up like earlier headline‑grabbing rules that quietly expired.
“In Uganda you are serious alone,” Kirya told reporters in Jinja this week, accusing the NRM of launching bold programmes that later gather dust because implementers drag their feet or government applies double standards.
That line “in Uganda you are serious alone” is the self- depreciating punchline people drop when a policy launch is met with memes instead of compliance.
Ugandans love to deflate pomposity: a ministerial directive becomes a Tok-tok skit, radio hosts spin it into a Fun factory-style parody, and by evening the serious bit is a cartoon caption.
The joke is not that nothing matters, it is a coping reflex, a way to signal, “we have seen this movie before” while still waiting to see whether this time anyone actually follows through.
Kirya Wanzala cited the 2019 push for speed governors and mandatory seat‑belts, which dominated road‑safety campaigns before fading, and the short‑lived NEMA‑police directive to arrest motorists without car dustbins, a move he said “died a quiet, happy death” for lack of legal backing.
“We chased dustbins more fiercely than we chase corruption,” he remarked.
Joining Parliament in May, the FDC stalwart fears Trade Order, now backed by the Ministry of Local Government’s circular enforcing the Trade (Licensing) Act, Cap 101, may suffer the same fate as elections loom in 2031.
“By mid‑term they will soften enforcement so as not to annoy voters,” he predicted, urging authorities to pair clearances with real market upgrades rather than relying on force alone.
Local leaders in Jinja report voluntary compliance in suburbs like Bugembe and Mafubira, but traders’ associations echo Kirya’s concern: without lighting, storage and affordable stalls, evictions simply shift hardship.
Kiosk owners in Jinja taxi park have raced to the court and secured an injunction barring Town Hall from evicting them until their main suit, allegedly backed by an MoU is heard. Critics have called the injunction “stupid”, arguing it undermines a national hygiene drive in the trade and business sector.
