Security Minister Lieutenant General Henry Tumukunde has ordered a temporary ban on street parking fees in Rukungiri Municipality.
The municipality has been charging 300 shillings per hour on every vehicle parked on the street, a fee that was introduced at the beginning of the year as a way of enhancing its resource envelop
This fee was however not welcomed by locals, mainly traders doing business in the municipality, which forced 328 of them to mobilize and petition the security minister.
In their petition, the traders claimed the fee was among others scaring away their customers.
General Tumukunde ultimately banned the fee on Tuesday while meeting traders, vehicle owners and municipality leaders at Riverside Hotel in Rukungiri municipality.
He asked the municipality leaders like the town clerk Canon Johnson Baryantuma Munono and Mayor Charles Makaru to stop collecting it until the committee that was formed to investigate it finished its work.
Gen. Tumukunde asked the leaders to always listen to concerns of the people that they lead before in every decision they make.
In response however, Mayor Charles Makuru said he would not follow the minister’s orders, since he is not accountable to him.
He said in stead that he would go back to the council that established the tax and consult them about its removal.