MYSTERIES OF THE STREET - WOMEN ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SELL CHICKEN IN NAMAWOJJOLO - HERE IS WHY.

It first took me a good five months of observation, since July 2022 during my journeys from Jinja to Kampala for my weekend study program at Uganda Management Institute, I kept looking at the very aggressive chicken BBQ sellers in Namawojjolo, on some days I would buy a piece and some Gonja (Roasted bananas). My journalistic intuition drove me into several questions, how come I don’t get to see any women selling chicken, do they sell so fast that I never find any of them still running around with some pieces, because truly women in Namawojjolo are equally active at the job despite what they sell.

The investigative journalist in me had to act, on one of the weekends I requested that I wanted to support a woman who was selling chicken, I asked the men who had rushed to the vehicle window if they could call any woman to sell to me, the reaction was a little strange but I could understand, I mean which seller is willing to call for you another seller of the same product.

After insisting on getting a woman who was selling chicken, one of the men told me "wano abakazi tebakilizibwa kutunda nkoko" (meaning women are not allowed to sell chicken here). I felt the same way you are feeling right now, I was in disbelief, not to kill the conversation I laughed it off, and asked the man why? He said it's bad culturally but I did not buy his answer because gone are the days when our mothers were denied to eat chicken that it was a taboo how could selling be bad in 2022.

We left Namawojjolo but my curious mind literally stayed behind asking more questions, I wanted to visit the local leaders and interview them plus anyone else who could answer my questions., I also kept on thinking about the situation of the women who are the fenders of their families.

Much as I did not manage to visit the local leaders in Namawojjolo, I knew if I interacted with some three to four people, I would get an answer. On 3rd December 2022, enroute to Kampala for my usual weekend program, we stopped for some BBQ, this time I was quite straight with the men selling chicken, I asked them why women are not allowed to sell chicken here, one said it plainly "tetubakiliza kutunda nkoko" (meaning we don't allow them to sell chicken), I felt like I was back to the 90s in my village of Butaleja when men dictated what women had to do or not do.

One of them sugar quoted the answer and said "batya okutunda enkoko" meaning they (women) fear to sell chicken, we left the place, I almost thought it was a cultural problem but I remembered that I had not talked to any women yet.

On 28th January 2023, returning to Jinja from Kampala, at around 5pm, we made a stop at Namawojjolo, luckily this time I had about four women lined at the car window selling Gonja (Roasted bananas), water, soda, juice, at this point I was convinced that women are actually not allowed to sell chicken in Namawojjolo, which is the biggest and fastes selling item on the menu, each piece going for 4k - 5k UGX, this time I had to ask.

I thought the women would be more positive to talk about it, when I asked "nyabo, lwaki mwe temutunda Nkoko" (why dont you sell chicken), three of them gave me a bad eye and walked away from me like they were not interested in selling to me anymore, one woman managed to give me an opinion but very brief, "ffe batugana okutunda enkoko" (meaning we were denied from selling chicken).

When the woman gave me her answer, I knew the three men standing near with their pieces of chicken will want to rebuttal with the truth, one responded "abo tebasobola kutunda enkoko wano" (meaning those ones cannot sell chicken here). The second certainly said the truth, "abakzi tetubakiliza kutunda nkoko lwakuba bajja tukuba oluggo" directly it means we cannot allow women to sell chicken here because they will hit us with a stick.

I thought I was good at street language but At this point I was lost, I asked the second guy in Luganda, what do you mean, he said "ffe tujakuba tetutunda" (meaning if they let women sell chicken, the men will not be able to sell), the third man added on by saying, "abantu besiga nyo abakazi" meaning (people easily trust women).

Women in Namawojjolo are not allowed to sell chicken which is the biggest item on the market in that area because men are afraid of competition; it is a hard reality in the 21st century.