Traders have closed their shops to meet the president again
Moses Kigongo
Journalist @New Vision
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Traders have started flocking Kololo Independence Grounds ahead of their meeting with President Yoweri Museveni today (Tuesday, May 7th, 2024).
The president agreed with traders' leaders to meet all their members on 7th May 2024 at Kololo to respond to the tax-related grievances, following a meeting he had with them at state House Entebbe last month when they closed their shops for almost a week in protest of the new tax measures.
As a way of honoring the president's invitation, the traders have decided to close their shops once again and flocked to Kololo this morning to listen to his guidance on their issues including the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) which they want to be halted in their operations, foreigners whom they accuse of disorganiSing the trade order, high tax values among others.
To restore sanity in the business community, the president promised to meet all the traders to respond to their grievances after meeting the technical people about some of the traders' concerns that they reported to him during the meeting.
"We have closed our shops to meet the president and listen to his guidance over our concerns which our leaders reported to him in the latest meeting they had at Entebbe," said Godfrey Katongole the vice chairman of an umbrella association called the Federation of Uganda Traders' Association (FUTA) when reached about the issue of closing their shops again this morning.
Most of the city shops have been closed right from Kampala Road to the Central Business District of downtown Kampala. And there are just a handful of traders in this area who seem to be guarding their shops, as they wait for the government's position on their issues.
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