GOVERNANCE Expert Mark Simuuwe says it is surprising that the Patriotic Front(PF) are playing propaganda on the demolition of Munyaule Market in Lusaka yet they are the ones that sold the facility in 2016.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Simuuwe urged citizens and the media not to pick propaganda stories from those in opposition who deliberately wanted to pretend not to have details about the background of Munyaule Market for their own political aggrandizement.
“We are very much aware that the PF members who include all those in Socialist Party and United Kwacha Alliance(UKA) made this decision and today want to insult the very citizens they resolved to remove from the area after they allocated the said piece of land to a developer.
“They are now shamelessly planting propaganda by cheating citizens that they love them and that is why they kept Munyaule Market in the state it was, yet they are the ones who decided to allocate the piece of land to the developer,” Mr Simuuwe said.
He urged the media to do some investigative journalism by doing a search at the Ministry of Lands at Deeds and registry office so that the nation could be well-informed on the time the developer was given a piece of land in question.
“The media may also engage the Ministry of Local Government for official and credible sources of information to avoid being caught up in malicious publications from the opposition,” he said.
He said in 2016, the land commonly known as Munyaule Market was allocated to a developer to construct an ultra-modern Market by the PF Government who now wanted to pretend to be responsible in the eyes of the grieving marketeers by arm-twisting the media to believing that the developer was given land rights under the UPND Government.
“It should be pointed out that when it was time to develop the area, notices were issued to traders and meetings with traders were held with local authorities including the area councillor. The last notice expired on 29th February, 2024,” he said.
He, however, noted that once the Ultra-Modern Market was completed, the developer committed in writing, to prioritize the affected marketeers for trading spaces.
“Arising from this development, citizens should know that the local authorities have allocated alternative trading spaces to traders at DH Market, Soweto, and Simon Mwewa Lane Market,” he said.
He said some Marketeers opted not to relocate to alternative places.
