Denis Eidu, a senior auditor also presented the reports from 2014 to 2019, which implicated the previous board led by Geoffrey Bangirana for causing the union a financial loss of Shillings 1.5billion through travels and unexplained payments.
Stephen Rwangande, a landlord and Chairperson of Mbarara Central Market Meat and Livestock dealers says they set up the structures housing the butchery and spent 5.6 million shillings to construct them, thus arguing that they are the rightful people to be registered and not the tenants.
Mbarara City Resident City Commissioner James Mwesigye says the previous three lists that were being followed had been manipulated noting that the Minister has directed his office and the one of Intelligence to investigate the lists and come up with a solution.
The Minister Raphael Magyezi has also directed the Mbarara Central Market Vendors Association leadership chaired by Muhammed Nyombi to stop its operations and also halted the process of verifying lists until investigations are complete.
He says the appeals committee is joined by the DISO and the deputy RCC and these are tasked with verifying the memorandum of Understanding between the Vendors and the Ministry and also verifying the lists.
Tumushabe says in some areas 5 to 10 kilometers away, a plot of land measuring 100x50 feet that used to go for 3.5 million Shillings now costs between 10 to 15 million shillings. Whereas land in places about 15 kilometres from the city centre that used to cost Shillings 2 million shillings now costs Shillings 10 million
While commissioning the new market, the Local Government Minister Raphael Magyezi said that the market belonged to Mbarara City Council and not the Kiosk Owners Association.
Raphael Magyezi the Minister of Local Government says the verification team has only one week to validate the lists and submit the findings to the Ministry.
Last week the Minister of Local Government Raphael Magyezi directed the city leaders to display the list of the rightful vendors. He said that the rightful vendors are those that were initially in the old market before the reconstruction started in 2017.
The government awarded Roko Construction Limited the contract to reconstruct Mbarara Central Market in 2018 at a cost of 21.11 Billion shillings under The Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Project (MATIP) with funding from African Development Bank.
The construction of the 21 Billion Shillings four-storeyed market located along Buremba Road is expected to accommodate about 3,000 traders started in July 2017 after more than 700 vendors were relocated to Independence Park to pave way for constructions has taken four years to complete.
The city’s revenue collection for the financial year 2021/2022 was projected at 4.7 Billion Shilling. However, by the end of the second quarter, only 1.3 Billion Shillings was realized.
The researchers attending the Greater Ankole Symposium in Mbarara City argue that they need a financial boost to be able to facilitate the incubation processes of their innovations and achieve commercial value out of them.
The farmers who are attending the first Greater Ankole Symposium say their agricultural products are rotting away or are sold cheaply at the peak of the harvests because of limited markets.
Pasious Bagambe, the Vice-Chairperson of Nyamityobra Market, says that they wrote to Mbarara City leadership demonstrating their capability to redevelop their market.
