Florence Namayanja, the Masaka City Mayor is concerned by the apparent public suspicions and speculations about the ongoing project works, which casts it in bad light due to public misrepresentation of its details.
Led by Minister Hajat Minsa Kabanda, the ministry's delegation visited Masaka City Council on Monday to observe the implementation of projects under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme (USMID), focusing on markets, street lighting, urban roads, and drainage networks.
However, Abel Ssembajjwe, the Masaka City Assistant Engineer, explains that due to challenges in maintaining the lights due to high power bills, the City Council decided in 2019 to uninstall all the LED lights until a more sustainable solution was found.
The 18.05 billion Shillings modern market was constructed under the second phase of the Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Program-MATIP II, which was funded by a loan from the African Development Bank-ADB. The three-storied market has 761 stalls and 89 lockups
Two years after they were granted city status, the leadership of Masaka has considered organizing the first-ever city carnival as a platform to market its tourism potential and investment opportunities; a four-day socialization event, which will take place between July 29 and July 31, 2022.
Florence Namayanja, Masaka City Mayor together with security and the technical teams, condemned the leadership of the association for abusing the agreement granted to them to manage the taxi industry on behalf of the City Council.
Godfrey Kalema, one of the child vendors, says that they do not have money for school fees and other requirements, which has forced them to remain on the street.
Police led by Masaka City Police Commander Moses Nanoka intervened after leaders of Masaka United Taxi Operators and Drivers Cooperative Society engaged in bitter clashes with their counterparts plying the Kampala-Kyotera and Kampala-Mbarara routes, accusing them of setting up illegal roadside stages.
Led by Emmanuel Lwasa and John Bosco Kissekka, the residents accuse the former Masaka Municipal council of fraudulently selling off their land before transferring it to Mandela.
Augustine Turibalungi, the City Principal Works Engineer says they have now opted to remodel the worn-out shopping lanes, pedestrian pathways and street parking lanes with pavers instead of the traditional asphalt material.
Frank Tumwebaze, the Chairperson on Masaka Market Vendors Cooperative says that the failure by the contractors to complete and hand over the market has frustrated vendors, who are tired of operating in open space.
Moses Muliisa, the general secretary of the association has petitioned the city council authorities demanding that they take interest and set a standard price for milk resale for purposes of protecting the traders from highly exploitative distributors, whom they also accuse of compromising the quality of milk on the market.
The drug shop operators says that several local government authorities such as sub county and division councils have already issued assessment forms for the taxes they have to pay to the councils as trading license which they says that its unfair since they already paid money to NDA to secure their operational licenses.
During her visit to the market in Friday, the Local Government State Minister, Jenifer Namuyangu asked the contractors to use the extra two more months to complete the market so that the vendors can use it.
Jerome Olowo Stowell, the board architect, says the building committee will re-inspect the building after construction for issuance of an occupancy permit, adding that no building will be allowed to be occupied without an occupational permit.
Last month, the Masaka Municipal City Clerk John Bahengana issued a ten-day ultimatum to taxi drivers in the area to stop operating from gazetted stages and parks, which was creating confusion in the town.
“We gave them up to November to return to the main park because we shall not allow any vehicle to load and offload passengers anywhere other than the taxi park" the city clerk said.
Masaka City Physical Planner Martin Kigozi says that the recent elevation of Masaka Municipality to a city has triggered a land purchase rush which poses a threat to the town’s physical plan and architectural designs.
This is the third time the contractor is seeking an extension after failing to complete the construction works during the second extension which ended on 30th July.
