BOOTHSGATE
By Miles B. Sampa, MP
London, New York, Brussels, Nairobi, Lagos, Addis Ababa Johannesburg etc all have street vendors and booths.
African Economies stand to gain if they can recognize and formalize the tiny majority business individuals. Multinational big companies not only externalise their money, but hardly observe any corporate social responsibilities.
About all AU leaders and delegates coming to the summit in Lusaka this week would have left their relatives freely trading in booths and streets. Only Rwanda can boast of a clean capital city but they are only a very small percentage of our land size and population. Then one needs to understand their geopolitic and past genocide. In short let’s not compare mangos and grapes. Very different.
It cost about K50,000 to carry out such night demolition operations. I bet it’s some Mall owners, some Banks or Shoprite that have financed the de-boothing exercise for their selfish reasons of eliminating competition from the poor masses. Their aim is to destroy booth business competitors and force all potential customers into their business premises. Profit making by all means and care less about other human lives.
These tiding and cleansing measures will only be acceptable once alternatives are first put in place. Imagine painting our homes with expensive and fancy colours while our children have had zero to eat entire day.
I would have hoped there are some within the ‘relevant authorities’ rankings that know the politics and sensitive intricates around the booth demolition exercises.
In the western world they have formalized booth owners and call them micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) for the purposes of capturing tax from them. ZRA needs our MSMEs. It’s a potentially $1M total turnover business per day.
Speaking from experience, I am sure some are already name dropping to powers that be. ‘He and She just wants to make the Parte and the President unpopular.’ In the other era everything would be blamed on Miles once operations boomeranged and yet he had not been consulted before hand.
There is a lot of invisible hands and parallel interests in such operations. The AU summit may have just given them the right excuse for their personal motives. The sponsors of such operations are even first to wash their hands off in the blame game. I wonder whose name would be or is already on the chopping board as a scapegoat in the latest rather public unpopular operation.
Yes we all need a clean city but let’s do it in a ‘systematic manner’. Let’s be ‘methodical’. There are many alternative places within CBD that can have our MSMEs legalized. Agreed PF failed to do it (for which ever reason) but avoid listening to people that have never stood for any elections and not in the business of caring for other people but only themselves. Balamilufya (mislead you).
A booth cost about K20, 000 and some amongst us have lost all that capital overnight. At minimum let’s love, care and show empathy to those around us in our communities.
Together We Can
MBS10.07.2022