DISABLED TRADERS AND VENDORS APPEAL FOR SOLAR PRODUCTS

By NOEL IYOMBWA

THE National Association for Marketeers Disabled Traders and Vendors of Zambia have appealed to the Government to engage suppliers of off-grid solar energy products and loan them to civil servants and public workers.

Association Secretary General Rodgers Bezika said the Government should engage suppliers and enter into an agreement so that civil servants can get them on loan.

Mr. Bezika observed that despite the Government declaring that solar and other environmentally-friendly energy alternatives to be affordable to citizens, they still remained unaffordable to ordinary citizens.

“We are told solar and genesets should be affordable for an ordinary Zambian in this time of load shedding but this is not the cases as prices for these alternative energy sources remain high and as a result, people resort to charcoal which is affordable but it is being discouraged due to the negative effects of cutting down of trees.

“We are urging the Government to engage these companies so that they provide these energy sources by way of loans to civil servants,” he said.

He also stated that the Government could negotiate payment plans for them as it had control over their pay and that paying back won’t be an issue.

The Secretary General said this would help members of the association who were currently grappling with electricity supply challenges which were forcing most families that depend on hair salons and welding shops to go home with empty pockets.

He further urged ZESCO to give the people a proper load management schedule as the current one left much to be desired.