Kampala city traders yesterday called off their strike, which had been going on since Tuesday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
Kampala
City traders have agreed to resume business after reaching an agreement with government that the pre-inspection of goods from importing countries, be halted for a month.

The traders, from the central business district, closed shop on Tuesday, protesting against modalities government was using to enforce the Pre-import Verification of Conformity to Standards programme. PVoC that is being enforced by the Uganda National Bureau of Standard (UNBS), requires traders to have their goods inspected for quality in countries where they were manufactured or bought, before being shipped into the country.

“We are not against the PVoC programme but its modalities and the gaps in the agreement,” the Private Sector Foundation Executive Director, Mr Gideon Badagawa, said after the government pronouncement of the decision at the media centre yesterday. He added: “In the next one month, we are going to review the entire agreement and make sure that we eliminate all challenges that will make the implementation of this programme difficult.”
“For the meantime, we are ready to start negotiations reviewing the cost of the PVoC scheme beginning on Monday with the service providers—companies contracted to inspect the imports in the country of origin.”

The Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) made an announcement, calling off the a few minutes to midday. “After reaching an agreement with the government that we think is fair enough, we now ask you to immediately resume your businesses. And in case of any other information, we will get back to you,” said Mr Isa Sekitto, the Kacita spokesperson.
The meeting, which took place between 8pm to about 2am on Saturday night, was led by the Private Sector Foundation, the country’s apex body for the private sector with the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde.
Mr Badagawa said: “It was a very cordial engagement … The Prime Minister understood our challenges and gave us time to have those issues taken care of before the scheme is implemented.”

This comes as good news to the traders who earlier rejected appeals from the leaders that they call off the strike as engagement with the government continues.
This will be the third time the government is suspending the scheme after the traders contest its irregular application.

Ms Kyambadde said she was compelled to reinstate the scheme that her predecessor Kahinda Otafiire had earlier banned after the traders said it was mired in corruption.

iladu@ug.nationmedia.com