By Weswa Ronnie
MBALE CITY
Mbale City has given street vendors, taxi drivers, and lorry drivers a 5-day ultimatum to vacate the streets and relocate to designated areas.
The directive aims to address congestion in the city caused by thousands of street vendors, illegal boda boda operators, and taxi stages occupying nearly every corner of the city.
While speaking to the media in a press conference at Mbale city chambers on Wednesday, 25th February, 2026, Mbale City Town Clerk, Assy Abirebe, said the 5-day period starts from Thursday, February 26, 2026 and ends on Monday next week.
He says Taxi drivers are expected to relocate to gazetted city parks like Mbale main Taxi Park, Kumi road among others, street vendors to Mbale Central Market and other designated markets, and lorry drivers to their gazetted place at Kumi Road.
Hamiza Banja, the Deputy Resident City Commissioner in charge of Industrial Division, said, “As the City Security Committee, we have sat for meetings and agreed that the city should have order.”
He says the motorists and vendors who are selling goods on the middle of the road, pedestrian walkways, and more so, the criminals hiding among the vendors and street children, must be addressed.
Banja adds that all security agencies, including police and UPDF, will be working together with the Mbale City enforcement team to ensure that this directive is implemented after five days.
However, some taxi drivers and vendors are resisting the directive, citing inadequate space in the designated areas.
Same Gudoi, a taxi driver operating at Kumi Road, says they won’t vacate the streets unless Mbale City expands the main taxi park to accommodate all taxis. He accuses the city of selling off 60% of the main taxi park, making it too narrow for taxis.
Some street vendors also plan to defy the directive, saying all lockups and stalls at Mbale Central Market have been taken by rich people and city officials who rent them at exorbitant prices. They demand reallocation of stalls and lockups to benefit poor vendors.
