Former Internally Displaced People’s Camps in Gulu are to be gazetted as town boards.
The local authorities there are in the process of gazetting three former IDP camps of Awach, Opit and Palenga into town boards.
The three former camps are located in Pakwana, Awach and Obi Sub Counties. The camps had played host to hundreds of Internally Displaced People during the Joseph Kony led insurgency in northern Uganda.
Charles Uma, the Gulu Disaster Coordinator, says the district has come up with a structural plan, to turn the former IDP camps into town boards. He explains that the structural plans have been forwarded to the ministry of local government for approval.
Uma says the move is basically for administrative purposes.
Other former IDP camps that have since turned into trading centers include Lacor, Unyama and Koro.
But in Gulu town, the residents and the traders argue that the emerging trading centers have created a big impact on business in the area.
Bob Ochan of Kabedo-pong village says the emergence of the trading centers has affected the business in the town, adding that most people now prefer to buy things from the trading centers that are nearby. This, he says, partly explains why Gulu streets are deserted as early as 6pm.
//Cue in: “After the peace…
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Jane Ayuu, who has operated a retail business near Gulu Bus Park since the year 2000, says their businesses nose-dived around 2008 when people started returning to their homes following the end of war.
Ayuu says in the past they would sell up to late in the night but today they are forced to close by 7pm because there are no people on the streets.
