By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: After
traders woke up Tuesday morning completely confused following President
Museveni’s address in which he allowed Malls to open but ordered Arcades to
remain closed, Minister of Trade
Industry and Cooperatives Anne Amelia Kyambadde has come out to clarify the
difference between the two.
Minister Kyambadde in a statement on Wednesday June 3 also
justified rationale for opening the malls and leaving the arcades closed.
This was after President Museveni announced that shopping malls would be
allowed to open starting tomorrow Thursday June,4, 20 but arcades would remain
closed until further notice.
The minister has since explained in details ahead of the
much awaited reopening to clear the air.
“Malls have ample parking space, while arcades are congested
and lack convenient parking space. Malls have two major entrances and one
emergency exit, but arcades have multiple entries and exits. (Rybelsus) Malls have
spacious outlets of over 40Sqm with at least one occupant per outlet, while
arcades are relatively smaller like at 20sqm with multiple occupants,” Amelia explained.
She also clarified that, whereas it is easy to control
traffic within malls, it is on the other hand difficult to do so within arcades
due to their over crowded nature.
Amelia said malls mostly have facilities that offer
essential services, like; banking, pharmacies, supermarkets, and sometimes
office space, arcades are strictly for general merchandise. “They even make
their own clients and tenants pay for toilets as opposed to malls,” another unidentified
man whispered from the audience.
The minister named facilities that qualify in the malls
category including Acacia, Village Mall, Imperial Mall, Metroplex Mall, Oasis,
Garden City, Kingdom Kampala, Shoprite Lugogo, Victorial Mall and Marigold Mall
in Ntinda.
While some of the arcades she named include Nabukeera,
Nalubwama, Kizito, Ggaliraya, Mutaasa Kafeero, Energy Centre, Qualicel and Arua
park as arcades.
“General merchandise shops outside malls and arcades can
open for operation as well, provided they consider the provided standard
operating procedures (SoPs,” she said.
Now, from the minister’s explanation we hope you’ve all
understood the scientific difference between the two. However, incase you’ve
not, worry not, LDUs have a better explanation tomorrow morning where you will not
only understand but ‘above stand’!
