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Oct 8 at 8:32 PM

SHAMELESS LEADERS

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Poor Vendors Get Nothing as Tycoons, Politicians; RDCs Outsmart the President and Greedily Share Out the Ushs4Bn Wandegeya Market but Victims Promise a Big Battle!

By Stephen K Muwambi

Hardly a day after President Yoweri Museveni unveiled the Wandegeya market, he will be surprised to learn that his efforts to find stalls for the poor who were evicted from the streets, was in vain.

The President will also boil with rage on learning that the Ushs4Bn injected in the market, ended up helping the rich to acquire stalls that they will hire out to the poor vendors at exorbitant fees.

As such, the President's efforts to banish poverty from Uganda by helping the poor as it is  well articulated in his manifesto, will remain on paper so long as politicians, the well to-do and his strategists keep grabbing whatever he puts in place to help the poor.

Meanwhile, we understand that the youth around Kampala are planning a big battle to acquire their promised share of the stalls.

'We rally every youth to turn up at Makerere Primary School to chart out the fight. We shall not waver until we have obtained what our stalls,' a tough talking Aidha Nakuya, the Kampala youth female youth councillor told us.

We can reveal that the meeting has been planned for Friday, but we doubt whether Police will let be if it turns out that the youth want to demonstrate on the streets to express their anger.

On our part, we have carried out investigations and we now expose the alleged greedy fellas who nipped the vendors' stalls and now throw a challenge to the President to rein in on them.

Mubarak Munyagwa aka 'Mugaatigwabata'

A self- styled advocate of the poor, our investigations have caught this modern day Judas Iscariot pants down. The Kawempe LC111 Chairman, who cannot stop demonstrating against greed and who one time pushed a wheelbarrow with foodstuffs to help out the sick at Mulago hospital, is a proud owner of tens of stalls that are meant to be allocated to his poor voters.

You know why the man has been off the demonstration turf for quite a while? Well, no prize for guessing. We understand that Munyagwa was bribed with the stalls to betray his voters just like Judas Iscariot was bribed with thirty pieces of silver to give away Jesus to his tormentors.

Godfrey Kayongo Nkajja

Kayongo is believed to own not less than 100 stalls in this market. That he is President Museveni's advisor on markets, Kayongo is expected to know that stalls are supposed be allocated to sitting tenants. The President appointed him his advisor because he thought he would enforce this to the letter. Yet, here is Kayongo betraying the President's trust and sitting vendors.

With Kayongo almost owning the whole of Owino market, boasting of several businesses and opportunities as well as claiming to be a born-again, one would think he would feel compassion for the single mothers, disabled Ugandans and such poor Ugandans. But, perhaps,  greed cannot let him.

With Kayongo battling charges of stealthily pledging a land title for a Kisenyi plot, where vendors were supposed to be resettled as the market gets a facelift, to DFCU for a Ushs800m loan that is as invisible as hell, conventional wisdom would dictate that he keeps away from such other scams, but greed cannot let him.

RDC Alice Muwanguzi

The former Kampala RDC, who is now posted in Kumi, we have been told, also own stalls in Wandegeya market.  As an RDC, she is expected to be the conveyor of the President's directive of giving market stalls to sitting tenants. So, it's ironical for Muwanguzi to own of stall in Wandegeya market.

Hajji Takuba Kabuye

The former Kawempe LC111 Chairman and tycoon at that, is also believed to own stalls in Wandegeya market.

Mujib Kasule

He is another tycoon. However, being a descendant of Hajj Kasule, the man who almost owned the entire Wandegeya,  it could be that he got the stalls in that capacity as he is entitled to a share in the family estate.

Councillors

Our investigations also unearthed quite a good number of councillors from around the city's five divisions, who got themselves stalls in the market thanks to influence peddling.

We are still on the prowl to unearth more undeserving fellows who ended up taking the poor vendors markets.