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Currency traders insist that the only reason they don’t operate fully within the law is because it’s very expensive to open an official Forex Bureau

MALABA
Just a few meters before barbed wire and fence demarcates the no-man’s-land between Kenya and Uganda, half a dozen men mill about with stacks of Kenyan and Ugandan shillings – all claiming they offer Malaba’s best exchange rate. Since there is no official foreign exchange bureau in the small but bustling town of Malaba, just ten kilometers from the industrial center of Tororo, these men fill the vacuum for all those who need to change money.

Of course, money could be changed in town, or across the border, but for people changing small sums of money, these semi-legal outposts are the best option. Small sums of money still incur some of the fees that larger sums of money incur in official forex bureaus, leading some to prefer illegal currency traders. “

We do our services very well. Our customers are happy and they come back. If they are not happy, they wouldn’t come back,” said Mr John Muhanuzi, a currency trader. While any bank notice or guidebook will tell someone in need of exchanging money to avoid these traders, they insist that their work is honorable and upright, and that is why their customers return.

“We know fake money. We never give fake money. We never take money home,” says Hussein Mugisha, another currency trader, fanning out his wad of bills and pointing to a few of them to show their authenticity. Both Mugisha and Muhanuzi insist that the only reason they don’t operate fully within the law is because it’s very expensive to open an official Forex.

However, they register with the local chairman of the area and even pay some taxes to him, though not to the national government. This is part of why the police give them no trouble, despite the fact that their activities are conducted within full visibility of the officers.”The police, they know me. They give no trouble because my work is good,” says Mr Muhanuzi.

According to Mr Herbert Wamala, the Chairperson for the Uganda Forex Bureau Association, however, “The trade should be regulated to avoid a situation where people have no recourse when they are given fake notes.” Wamala also thinks an official forex should be opened in the area, even if the trade is small, because there is an opportunity for growth. “We encourage anyone to open a bureau at the border,” he says.

However, the unofficial currency traders hope this doesn’t happen anytime soon since it would be an end to their lucrative business. Though their end of the day pay isn’t too much (between Shs3,000 to Shs10,000, depending on how busy it is), says Mr Mugisha, “Our business is okay, it’s good, we can survive.”