Museveni's Policy That Moses Kuria Believes Would End Gikomba Fires

Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria has hailed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for his government's policy towards small scale traders.

The outspoken lawmaker praised the public-private partnerships between the Ugandan government, traders and commercial banks that have modernised market areas and granted the ownership back to the traders.

Hon Kuria juxtaposed the Uganda situation to Kenya where a section of the largest open-air market Gikomba was razed down by a night fire on Friday morning.

Deputy President William Ruto with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during a past visit to Uganda/Photo Courtesy

"Yoweri Museveni's government has given land on leasehold to traders in Kampala. The traders have in turn sourced for a Public-Private-Partner (PPP) who will construct the market and other amenities like amenities and sell the stalls back to the traders.

"Commercial Banks are lining up to finance the traders to uptake the stalls. That is what I call innovation. Here in Kenya, we are looking for a permanent solution to the Gikomba fires and in a major transformative initiative we will now install CCTV cameras to catch the arsonists," Hon Kuria wrote on Facebook.

Moses Kuria's post comes just days since Deputy President William Ruto was stopped from flying to Uganda on a private visit.

Kapseret lawmaker Oscar Sudi, a staunch ally of the DP revealed that they were interested in benchmarking from the National Resistance Movement.

We have benchmarked with President Museveni's party three times. We have ongoing projects there," Hon Sudi said during a press conference on Wednesday.

This may be the reason MP Moses Kuria, another DP Ruto ally is full of praise for President Museveni.

On Friday, traders in the Gikomba market lost property of unknown value after the women's clothes section went up in flames.

It was the 11th time in the past decade that Gikomba was burning.