Traders at the Mukwano arcade are protesting the payment of July rent arrears.

Traders in Mukwano arcade shut their doors on Tuesday in protest of the management’s intention to force them to pay July rent arrears. One of the dealers stated that because they did not work in July, they are opposed to the payment of rent arrears.

Another merchant claimed that, despite the fact that Mukwano arcade did not exempt its tenants for even a single month following the last lockout, other landlords did so because their tenants had not worked for several months.

The traders haven’t worked in about three months, according to Emmanuel Ntale, chairperson of the United Arcades Traders Entrepreneurs Association. He predicted that the protest at Mukwano arcade would not end there, and that it would only be a matter of time before it extended to neighboring structures.

He urged property owners to recognize that COVID-19 has an impact on everyone, and that they should treat traders fairly. “We even came up with a plan where the landlords should enable us to only pay for June even though we only worked half-time and also pay August and the landlords forfeit July,” he said.

He stated that some property owners have exempted their tenants from the July arrears, while others have refused, despite the fact that they have the most tenants.
The management of Mukwano arcade, association leaders, and merchant representatives agreed to pay half of the July rent arrears at a meeting called by the police.

Sheikh Muhammed Sulaiman, who represented the traders at the meeting, stated that they had reached an agreement with management to pay half of the July arrears within a five-month timeframe.

Some traders, on the other hand, were against the deal and accused their representatives of siding with management in order to give up their fight.