Kaliyeka vendors resume paying market fees
Vendors at Kaliyeka Market in Lilongwe have resumed paying market fees following the collection of garbage by Lilongwe City Council (LCC).
The vendors have been boycotting paying market fees in protest against the council’s failure to collect garbage and provide adequate sanitation and hygiene services in the market.
In February, efforts by Lilongwe-based Mtendere Organisation, councillors and senior officials from the council failed to convince the traders to change their position on the matter.
to provide services
Kaliyeka Market Vendors Association chairperson Hastings Mwale told a stakeholders’ meeting at the time that they would only resume paying market fees after LCC cleared the garbage at the market.
Said Mwale at the time: “Either the council cooperates and collects the garbage or forget collecting market fees from us. For what service are we paying the daily fees?”
However, LCC administration assistant in the Directorate of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Hastings Maulidi, said in an interview on Thursday that the council collected the garbage and that, vendors have since resumed paying market fees.
“We have restarted collecting market fees from Kaliyeka Market. This will enable us provide quality sanitation and hygiene services to the vendors,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mtendere Organisation programmes manager Stanley Mantchichi has urged authorities to be proactive in addressing issues.
He also advised the market traders to desist from boycotting their duties and responsibilities.
