Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Gary Nkombo says all the individuals legitimately operating mobile money booths that have been asked to move from undesignated areas around the Central Business District of Lusaka will be compensated.
Speaking during a media briefing attended by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, where he addressed booth owners and the media on issues surrounding the uprooting of booths erected in undesignated areas, Nkombo said everyone registered with the local authority and a Mobile Network Operator-MTN, Airtel or Zamtel will be relocated to new trading areas.
Nkombo said it has been agreed with the Mobile Money Business Association of Zambia and Mobile Network Operators that for now, the mobile money business trading lane in Lusaka will be between the interface of the post office and the Zambia Railways Line upto Findeco House adding that all booth designs will be standardized in the near future.
He explained that one of the reasons for carrying out this exercise is to harmonize the data base between the service providers and the local authority for the optimization of revenue collection and to make sure that the revenue is going to the correct institution which is the local authority.
The Minister noted that in the past, there was disorder in the allocation of mobile money booths due to political influence adding that the designation of where money booths were to be established became a function of political players and not the council.
“Many of these booths have been operated by landlords who basically collect rent and there are cartels that were established around this business. We want to increase financial inclusion by broadening and making the process transparent so that more Zambians can get the benefit of engagement with this business”, he said.
Nkombo said the UPND government is working towards ensuring that order is restored and the sector is reorganised noting that there will be sizable disturbance in the business but no individuals will be allowed to establish mobile money booths anyhow as it was before in Lusaka as a starting point or any other parts of the country.
He noted that this development is not only for Lusaka but the entire country as government envisages to clean and bring sanity to the whole country.