Friday, March 29, 2024

State gives Zambia police K2.1bn to help fight street vending

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Two illegal vendors have just concluded a meal along Lumumba road in Lusaka, although they could have had a better and decent meal at a restaurant shown in the background
Two illegal vendors have just concluded a meal along Lumumba road in Lusaka, although they could have had a better and decent meal at a restaurant shown in the background

THE Ministry of Local Government and Housing has transferred K2.1 billion from the Lusaka City Intercity account to Zambia police to assist the council remove vendors from the streets of Lusaka.

In a ministerial statement in Parliament yesterday, acting Local Government and Housing Minister Bradford Machila said since the vendors had taken full control of the city and the local authority was ineffective in carrying out its duties and a decision was made to involve the police in the removal exercise.

“I, therefore, wish to take this opportunity to appeal to members of Parliament who are councilors to help us in ensuring that their councils carry out their legal mandate effectively, thereby ensuring compliance by our citizens,” Mr Machila said.

He said the K2.1 billion was not from the Lusaka City Council account but from a business venture account which the Government set up to raise revenue for the improvement of facilities such as markets and bus stations throughout the country.

Mr Machila recalled that in 2000, the Government upgraded and increased its oversight of the management of intercity bus terminus in order to bring sanity.

The upgrading of the facility was after the realisation that unscrupulous people were raising revenue at the expense of the travelling clients and the general populace.

“It is against this background that the Government invested in the intercity bus terminus by spending over K5 billion in the tarring of pavements and packing as well as refurbishing the buildings,” Mr Machila said.

Mr Machila said the Government later decided to put the station under a management board, which ran the facility as a genuine business entity.

He said as a result of the efforts of the Government, the station managed to accumulate a surplus of over K7 billion, which was set aside for future investments.

This, Mr Machila said, was not withstanding the fact that the council was receiving K150 million from the station on a monthly basis.

“I must inform that the ministry should have been receiving 42.5 per cent of the surplus income from the station towards improving markets and bus stations but due to the number of projects that the intercity management has initiated, the ministry has refrained from taking the dues,” Mr Machila said.

The minister assured the House that soon, street vendors would be removed from the streets of Lusaka as well as other cities in the country.

He said this when he responded to concerns raised by Mandevu MP Jean Kapata (PF) and Mbabala MP Emmanuel Hachipuka (UPND) who wanted to know when the street vendors would be removed on the streets.

Mr Machila said if the Lusaka City Council was effective, such an undertaking of transferring funds from one account to another would not have been necessary.

He said this after Kabwata MP Given Lubinda (PF) wanted to know why the Government did not consider constructing more markets to accommodate the vendors.

Finance and National Planning Deputy Minister Chileshe Kapwepwe told the House that the Government released K2 billion to assist fight cholera in Zimbabwe in January this year. This, she said, followed a Cabinet resolution.

She said the cholera situation that hit Zimbabwe in December 2008 was beginning to affect some parts of Southern Province, hence the decision to release the funds to save Zambians from being affected.

Further, she said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting to discuss the cholera situation in Zimbabwe resolved that member countries should assist their member state in combating the effects of the water-borne disease.

Ms Kapwepwe said this when she responded to a question by Kanyama MP Gerry Chanda (PF) who wanted to know under whose authority the ministry released the said funds to Zimbabwe.

Mr Chanda said it was wrong for the Government to assist the neighbouring country when citizens in Kanyama were dying as a result of the disease.

Ministry of Justice Deputy Minister Todd Chilembo told the House that books of account for the office of the Auditor General were audited in 2008 and anticipated that in the second quarter of this year, the books would again be audited.

He said this when he responded to a question by Mwinilunga East MP Stephen Katuka (UPND) wanted to know when the books of accounts were audited

[Times of Zambia].

16 COMMENTS

  1. Zambian please where the heck is your pride and decency? Mwe bantu you are dirty. The whole country is a rubbish dump!

  2. I agree there is need fof sanity and cleanliness coz this is also good for tourism. But I pray that police will not take out these vendors by force thereby creating riots and violence. Please city councils find altenative places for these people e.i build decent markets for them, for they also need to make a living. It only makes sense. Ulova wanyanya naimwe muziwa.

  3. Dont fight vendors arrest criminals, since when did vending became a crime.basiyeni bantu bagulise. there are no jobs , these people are just trying to make a decent living.you should even boost there fleet of Zamcabs with those Zambulances to carry kachasu victims like someone has suggested

  4. They should not just fight them without providing another solution for them. LG, this is a proposal from me:
    1. Construct markets for them.
    2. Introduce a monthly fee for each marketeer and
    3. Open an account for these fees.
    4. Provide means to collect garbage, even 2-3 times a week.

    The money collected should be used to maintain the market, for garbage collection, for keeping the toilets clean etc.

    A fee should be affordable, even K30,000. If there are 200 marketeers, it means the concil would be collecting K600,000 per month. In a year that would be 7.2mil. If this is well planned, there would be no need to wait for donor to come to your help even on petty issues.

    N.B: This money ba LG is not meant for your pocket.

  5. This is nonsance! How do you donate 2Billion to Zimbabwe to fight cholera when you yourselves are crying for donar Aid to finance Ministry of Health?? shame MMD!

  6. So they are going to spend 2bn ZMK stopping people from making a living without attempting to provide viable alternatives? This is a failure to think. That money should be spent on expanding the current market infrastructure. Getting rid of the vendors is not solving the problem. They will just sprout up elsewhere, or at some other point in time. If you want to solve a problem look at the root causes. There are no Jobs people have turned to vending as a consequence give them a market to facilitate this or leave them to resort to stealing. Remember the highjackings and armed robbery in the 90s…do we want to go back to that?

  7. But sure Ministry of local government mulekwatako uluse kubantu.You mean the K2.1bn cannot be used to repair the street lights and improve the services of your workforce.You only plan to remove innocent street vendors who are selling tomatoes for a living because of lack of employment sure.Lets take for instance City Market where will they sale from if they are moved out of the streets sure.You see lets have a heart of human being and analyse issues first.Create markets and let there be incentyives that will attract them to sell there goods in a good environment.So many things that the ministry have failed and only to propose to remove innocent vendors sure.vendors are every where but if you provide good markets then you can chase them.Now you want to remove policemen from offices to road

  8. Chicca you are the one with proper national of zambia because by them being found in the streets has seen being reduced now if we allow them to go and sell in the markets which do not exist then what are doing sure.K2.1 billion is alot of money which if invested in city market would see it being made into an up staired market which could accommodate them but not as it stands.The market is full and no spaces for someone to sell to but again ministry of local govrnment wants to remove them.what a government.

  9. Give the people an accessible Market, with good facilities that is large enough to house all who need to make a living. Let those with bigger stalls subsidize those with smaller stalls so that the market is not too expensive for all. Market the market, make the place somewhere even tourists would like to visit, the biggest market in Southern Africa, come on people think.

  10. more brutality to be unleashed on poor people trying to eke out a living while thugs rape our country…MOFOS….Machila should open his eyes..the solution is in creating an enviroment where the street vendor has a place to trade his/her wares creating markets around the countryfool,then introduce fees/fines to raise money for the cities..if towns have failed to solve the issue of street vending,local govt Act 22 of should empower you Machila to dissolve any council fire the officers and recruit new ones to perform it will be cheaper and very effective way of bring discipline or you will keep throwing money at the problem and hope it works…..

  11. Street vending is an important occupation for the urban poor in developing countries; it is one of the most important avenues for the poor to support their families. The city government should make new markets as relocation sites.

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