Uganda: Market vendors must adhere to a rigorous coronavirus curfew.

By Kwanta Douglas

About 600 sellers at Kampala’s largest market, Nakasero, have been forced to spend overnight in temporary cold cramped quarters nearly two weeks into the 42-day COVID-19 lockdown.

In a recent report, while navigating the rigorous dusk-to-dawn curfew in the hopes of making a living over the coming weeks, the traders try to get some sleep surrounded by their fresh goods.

They chose a cold night’s sleep between the fruit and vegetable stands since they are barred from coming home due to an agreement with the government to maintain working during the shutdown without breaking the curfew.

Abu Kikomeko, a market vendor in the area, notices the stark difference in his living conditions.

“I’m sleeping on a mat and some pieces of boxes, together with my net.”

The hardy entrepreneurs slept on concrete-floor beds, which were covered with mosquito nets donated by the government, which also provided drinking water and soap.


Even if the air is stale and muggy, at least they have a tin roof over their heads.

In a futile attempt to keep warm from the piercing cold, the less fortunate are forced to sleep in the open, huddled up on sheets of cardboard or hessian bags.

There is a scarcity of comfort. Personal space is limited, and amenities are inadequate to accommodate so many individuals.

Gladys Kyabangi Sebuyira, a female market trader, explained how the experience was intersectional.

“Life has changed that because we are not at home everything is just difficult. Bathing, as you know ladies, it’s quite difficult. Washing our things, the way we sleep. Things are not so easy.”

On June 18, President Yoweri Museveni stopped all public and private transportation in Uganda due to a record number of coronavirus illnesses and deaths.


As a result, not only are market sellers down by three-quarters, but purchasers are down even more, terrified of contagion.
The lockout, according to Sentoongo Mansoor, vice chairman of the Nakasero market, is having an economic impact, particularly on traders.

“The time when is not lockdown we are more than 2500 here, vendors in this market. But for now, if it is a lockdown, we have like 600 vendors who spend here a night.”

Linet Okoth, a local trader, laments the current state of affairs.

“We don’t have customers. They are not coming to buy, because they fear to come here.”

Truckloads of fresh produce are carried to Nakasero throughout the night from all around Uganda, but it is unclear whether all of it can be sold with the economy in a depression.

Hospitals in the 45 million-strong East African country are trying to keep up with the daily influx of COVID-19 infections, which have risen from the low hundreds in late May to over 1,700 by mid-June.

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