By Ronaldo Kalangi
Police and other sister security agencies spent the whole of Thursday after noon battling with rioting traders in downtown Kampala to suppress the protests at Qualicel Bus terminal.
The protesters were protesting the closure of their shops by their landlords on the grounds of failure to pay the hiked rent.
Some of the traders Spy Uganda talked to down town revealed that riots erupted when rich man Drake Lubega, one of the businessmen contesting ownership of the Qualicell Bus Terminal closed the shop of one of the traders on Thursday morning after demanding for the rent which a trader had paid to the family of Late Charles Muhangi who was the recent Landlord.
This was after a trader had refused to pay rent arrears and a rent fee hike announced by Drake Lubega.The traders say that Drake Lubega wants them to pay rent for the last four months when the late Charles Muhanagi was still in charge of the building, something they don’t adhere to and they locked their shops in protest against Drake leadership.
Later the charged traders closed their shops and started burning tyres on the roads which paralyzed transport and business in the area.
Police and UPDF soldiers were called in and they started battling rowdy traders in trying to put off the fire which had been set on the ways.
Traders later held a meeting with Tycoons Drake Lubega and Mansour Matavu, the owners of the buildings alongside the lord Mayor Elias Lukwago.
While speaking to the press after the meeting, Lukwago revealed that they had agreed that traders send their rent to one of the bank accounts of Courts of law until the matter concerning such buildings is resolved.
“These traders are right because they can’t pay rent when they don’t know who the rightful owner. Today it’s Drake then tomorrow you will find a new landlord. This is so confusing .Am calling President Museveni and courts to solve these issues so that people can do their businesses” Lukwago said.
After the death of Charles Muhangi last year who had repossessed his buildings at Qualicel after a long period of time, Tycoons Drake and Matovu went to attorney general office and acquired an order which evicted the family of Late Muhangi from the continuous property.
