Northern province Minister, Charles Shawa, has instructed the Kasama Municipal Council to remove vendors from the streets to achieve the objectives of the Keep Kasama Township Clean project.
Mr Shawa expressed concern that street vending is compromising the hygiene standards in the district. He said the council should enforce measures that mandate street vendors to relocate and operate from designated markets.
Mr Shawa said this when he inspected New Town market in Kasama.
He also appealed to vendors to consider moving from the streets to designated areas where they could sell their merchandise in an orderly manner.
He also appealed to marketeers to apply for loans from the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission to boost their business activities.
Mr Shawa said people should be allowed to trade in conducive market places provided by the council to preserve a clean work environment and avoid outbreaks of communicable diseases.
Earlier,marketeers at Kasama New Town market complained that their vegetables, fish and other items were not selling at the market as compared to the streets.
In response, Mr Shawa said customers are not yet used to the market but that they would eventually start buying their items once they know about it.
He advised that marketeers should keep their toilets and the market place clean as a measure to improve on their health and hygiene at their work place.
ZANIS
It is like this problem is eternal. But there are alternatives to some of these things. For example if it is decided that a neat steel stall is erected every 150metres on every street & that four people per day should be selling on it alternating on a weekly basis. As long as the four at a time do not have the same type of goods that would be profitable enough & that would even give the councils income as every one of them has to buy a permit say two days before they take up their turn. That would help in ensuring that the streets are clean and reduce congestion. The streets should be given zones and depending on how busy the street is, different charges could apply. Sometimes kweshako some of these things.
That could a good undertaking if those people could be provided with an alternative way to make a living
#2 well said.
There should be an alternative market set for them or the local govt should iniciate or facilitate the development of other economic ventures.
or we will have a “Keep Kasama clean and starve the poor” campaign.
the problem is unemployment is very high in zambia, the only way people try to earn a living is by selling unfortunately,people only have money to buy food hence every one on the streets sales food,as they have a better chance to sale something, so which make it dificult as there many marketeres competing for little money
Ba Dongo na sundu, that idea wont work in Kasama. its my back ward i know it. If the council can make many amenities free eg toilets. Brothers and sisters the profit margins for these veg and simple vendors is too low.. think of the Location market, Newtown market and Chikumanino, toilet alone is K100 per trip, and Lunch during sale is K1000, this will be against a profit of K1200 or less minus the operating expenses of K1100+ even before you pay the council you are already BROKE.
Lets bring a listening government.
ba Dongo na sundu mwapoleni mukwai, your concern is genuine. but it wont work in kasama, i know it and its my backyard. Toilets at chikumanino, location, and new town market is K100 per trip, lunch is K1000+ which comes to K1100 even before you pay this poor council. But who will make more than K1500 profit per blessed day? No one, it just mockery on the poor people of Kasama.
lets remove these vilians from the Organisation of our country.
I miss my hometown Kasama
#6 Ba Romario, sewo tilibwino kayanamwe. I think you could be right for Kasama but leaving it without trying we will never know whether it can/not work in some cities or districts let alone for Kasama. I saw these stalls when I visited Pretoria. So it was just a thought that has always been on my mind. The good part about it is that in the model I have refrred to, it would make peopel to have a unselfish attitudes as they will have to be giving each other turns to make good profit.
I hope you did a market search before putting a market. where he want to take the vendor otherwise wont have customers.