YOUR’E LEAVING THE STREETS, NANJUWA TELLS VENDORS

By Jessica Mwansa

CENTRAL Province Minister Credo Nanjuwa says the Provincial Administration will emulate what Minister of Local Government and Urban Planning Garry Nkombo has done in restoring order and sanity in Lusaka’s Central Business District by removing street vendors.

In an interview with The Scoop, Mr. Nanjuwa said the street vendors in Central Province will go back to trade in the markets because there will be no negotiation on whether to remove them or not.

He said the relevant authorities in his province will call for a stakeholder meeting to chart the way forward on how and when to remove the vendors from trading in undesignated places.

 “As Provincial Administration, our role is to implement the Government policies. As Central Province, we urge our street vendors to trade in the markets and then that will eventually show us how much work needs to be done and if there will be a need to construct new markets.

 “Let the street vendors go back into the markets. In Central Province, we will call for a meeting of stakeholders, our local authority officers, together with ourselves so that we can sit down and see the way forward. The matter is how and when we will remove street vendors especially those along the road because we have to do it as part of the Government’s policies,” Mr. Nanjuwa said.

He said there were a lot of unoccupied spaces within the markets which could accommodate the traders and that only after they go back in the markets will the Government assess the need for new markets based on the deficit of trading spaces if any.

“It is good for our own health as well as their health and orderliness is a better way of doing business. As Central Province, we are going ahead and implementing the Government policy. That is an issue we just have to agree on how we do it and when we do it,” he said.

He said restoring order and sanity in the Central Business (CBD) was a Government Policy and that the Provincial Administration in Central Province was duty-bound to implement that.

“It is a matter of taking back the street vendors into the markets so that their customers can find them in designated trading places. We congratulate the Minister of Local Government and Urban Planning for the bold decision. It is not an easy task as it needs someone who is focused and who knows what he wants for his people,” he said.