Development, division and discontent in informal markets: insights from Kampala

This article explores the recent history of Owino Market in Kampala, Uganda, to analyse the constraints to agency that exist in the informal economy. Detailing conflicts over market management and development in Owino, it argues that agency in the informal economy must be understood in reference to the economic divisions that exist within the informal sphere and the political divisions that characterise urban governance. The interaction of the two, as Owino illustrates, can severely circumscribe the ability of informal vendors to act in ways that allow them to participate in urban development. In this case, ongoing efforts by the ruling party and executive to monopolise power in Kampala solidified and politicised internal market hierarchies defined by vending location and ownership and employment status, leading to conflicts that threatened the majority of vendors’ livelihoods and the viability of their economic activities. For many in the informal economy, these structural constraints to agency may be impossible to overcome.