Informal Vending and the State in Kampala, Uganda Graeme William
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo Informal Vending and the State in Kampala, Uganda Graeme William Young St. John’s College April 2018 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Preface This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. Abstract: This thesis examines how the agency of informal vendors in Kampala, Uganda, is shaped by the state. It argues that efforts by the President and the NRM to monopolize political power have dramatically restricted the agency of informal street and market vendors, forcing them to adapt to changing political circumstances in ways that have limited their ability to participate in urban development and economic life. This argument is presented through two examples of how expanding political control has led to a contraction of vendors’ agency. The first of these describes how the early decentralization and democratization reforms introduced by the NRM allowed street vendors to take advantage of competition between newly elected and empowered politicians to remain on the city’s streets, and how the central government’s subsequent recentralization and de- democratization of political power in Kampala has led to the repression of street vending while closing the channels of influence that vendors previously enjoyed. The second explores how efforts by the central government to undermine the opposition-led local government allowed market vendors to successfully oppose an unpopular market privatization initiative, and how both the President and the new city government have since been able to take advantage of disputes within markets for their own purposes while vendors have been largely unable to realize their market management and development ambitions. Both examples detail the causes, forms and implications of the ruling party’s monopolization of political power and explore how vendors have responded to their changing political circumstances, highlighting how these efforts face significant obstacles due to the increasingly restrictive environment in which vendors are forced to act. This thesis shows that the agency of informal vendors—while always manifest in certain ways—is constantly and increasingly constrained as the President and the ruling party tighten their grip on power. As their political exclusion precipitates a broader exclusion from urban development and economic life, informal vendors are forced to contend with a situation of increasing marginalization and vulnerability that they are largely unable to improve. Contents Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Part I: Research Problem ............................................................................................................. 1 Part II: Thesis Overview ............................................................................................................. 3 i. Research Question............................................................................................................ 3 ii. Argument .......................................................................................................................... 3 iii. Aims of this Study ............................................................................................................. 5 iv. Case Study Selection ...................................................................................................... 11 v. Definitions ...................................................................................................................... 15 Part III: Methodological Approach ........................................................................................... 19 i. Research Design ............................................................................................................. 19 ii. Fieldwork Sites ............................................................................................................... 23 iii. Practical Issues .............................................................................................................. 28 iv. Ethical Concerns ............................................................................................................ 30 Part IV: Thesis Outline .............................................................................................................. 31 Chapter Two: Literature Review .............................................................................................. 34 Part I: Informality and the State in Uganda............................................................................... 34 i. The State in Uganda ....................................................................................................... 35 ii. Informal Economic Activity in Uganda .......................................................................... 40 Part II: Informal Economic Activity ......................................................................................... 44 i. Informal Vending and the State ...................................................................................... 44 ii. The Informal Sphere as Apolitical ................................................................................. 47 iii. Neoliberal Accounts of Informal Economic Activity ...................................................... 49 iv. Alternative Approaches to Agency in the Informal Sphere ............................................ 51 Part III: Moving Forward .......................................................................................................... 62 Chapter Three: Informality and the State in Uganda ............................................................. 65 Part I: Uganda’s Informal Economy ......................................................................................... 66 i. Overview......................................................................................................................... 66 ii. Street and Market Vending ............................................................................................. 68 Part II: The Informal Economy and the State ........................................................................... 74 i. Colonial Planning .......................................................................................................... 74 ii. Governance, Instability and Insecurity .......................................................................... 75 iii. Economic Liberalization ................................................................................................ 77 iv. The Geography of Development ..................................................................................... 80 v. Taxation .......................................................................................................................... 82 vi. The Self-Interest of State Officials ................................................................................. 87 Part III: Conclusions.................................................................................................................. 88 Chapter Four: The Rise and (Partial) Fall of Street Vending in Kampala ........................... 89 Part I: Decentralization, Democratization and Street Vending in Kampala ............................. 90 i. Decentralization and Democratization Under the NRM................................................ 91 ii. The Kampala City Council in Local and National Politics ......................................... 104 iii. Street Vending and the Kampala City Council ............................................................ 106 Part II: The Politics of Repression .......................................................................................... 109 i. The Introduction of the Kampala Capital City Authority and the National Resistance Movement’s Reassertion of Power ...................................................................................... 109 ii. The Repression of Street Vending ................................................................................ 122 iii. The Effects of Repression ............................................................................................. 128 iv. Responding to Repression ............................................................................................ 130 v. The 2016 Elections and the (Brief) Return of Political Competition ........................... 142 Part III: Conclusions................................................................................................................ 149 Chapter Five: The Politics of Market Ownership