Livingstone street vendors urged to cooperate with council in keeping the city clean

Government has appealed to street vendors and marketeers in Livingstone to cooperate with the Livingstone City Council in keeping the city clean ahead of the United Nations World Tourism (UNWTO) General Assembly scheduled for August this year.

Local Government and Housing Minister Emerine Kabanshi made the appeal in Livingstone yesterday when she inspected selected developmental projects.

Ms. Kabanshi advised against squabbles between marketeers and street vendors in order to enable government to implement a uniform law for traders.

The minister said government was committed to improving the livelihood of marketeers and street vendors in Livingstone.

She disclosed that the government has increased the budgetary allocation for construction of markets from last year’s KR2 million to KR 20 million.

She added that a contractor, who has been engaged to build a modern market, was scheduled to move on site in two weeks’ time.

Ms. Kabanshi further appealed to street vendors to move to the new site that has been allocated to them and fill up empty stores in markets.

She said this needs to be done in order to avoid a situation where the new market is not occupied even after completion.

The minister has thanked the marketeers who have since moved to COMESA market and urged them to encourage their colleagues on the streets to follow suit.

“We need to clean up our home so that we receive our visitors,” she said.

And Livingstone Street Vendor’s Regional Secretary, Patrick Mubanga has pledged to sensitize people to trade from designated areas.

Mr. Mubanga said there were vendors coming from other towns everyday who were taking advantage of the UNWTO.

“For us, it is very difficult to tell them that it is wrong. We are asking if the council police can assist us,” he said.

Government embarked on a project to construct a modern market, bus station and public toilets in the tourist capital.

Livingstone City Council identified Green market, COMESA market and Scouts for traders to relocate to while a new market is being constructed. The toilets are scheduled for completion at the month end of March.