Street vending has formally resumed in Lusaka city, allowing venders to sell their merchandise along Lumumba road, from 18 hours to 20 hours as directed by the ministry of local government.
The move by the local government ministry to designate only Lumumba road has been received with mixed feelings by vendors who have since cried out to government to designate another street on which they can trade from, amidst economic austerity and a huge number of informal traders.
A check conducted by the Zambian Business Times –ZBT through the streets of Lusaka’s Lumumba road found hundreds of vendors doing business on the street. One trader who deals in shoes said Lumumba road cannot cater for all the vendors.
‘‘It is a good thing that government has allowed vending back on the streets but we are too many traders, what happens to others who can not find space?. The markets are also full and some have no business. There are no jobs and we have the climate change effects which is impacting so negatively on the country’s economy, so if vendors and informal petty traders are given alternative trading spaces, many economic challenges we are facing can be reduced’’.
The vendor representative pointed out that climate change has affected the energy and agriculture sectors causing a rise in the price of goods and services, saying if government opens up several trading areas, it can help alleviate the sufferings of the local people, as they will have a place on which to sell their goods instead of engaging in illicit activities to generate the much needed incomes.
But Independent ward 14 councilor George Daka, appealed to vendors trading illegally on undesignated streets to return to Lumumba road. And local government permanent Secretary Eddie Chomba called for engagement of the traders selling on undesignated streets.
Street vending was banned last year by government when the country underwent an acute cholera out break that posed a health risk to goods and especially foods sold on the streets. The streets also do not have social and public health facilities such as public washrooms. This left hundreds of traders helpless thereby causing an economic breaking down in mostly high density residential areas were the majority of the informal and street petty traders reside.
Traders have since appealed to government to quickly provide additional convenient trading sites for them so that the economic hardships can reduce. Most traders have complained that they are experiencing low sales and this is putting pressure on household incomes.
The ministry of local government which is mandated to attend to community needs has consistently failed to implement revenue generating activities to boost their ability to attend to public and community needs. This is one ministry that needs strong leadership as it affects the livelihood of the majority of the citizens by being the responsible ministry for regulation public transport, markets and local employment creation.
