Mweba TALABA
[On vending]
By Dr. Canisius Banda
Globalisation, when not carefully handled, destroys SMEs and such local entrepreneurial initiatives.
Nations thrive only when citizens thrive.
It would not be surprising to learn that Republican President Hakainde HICHILEMA is under pressure from imperial and globalisation forces to, inter alia, harass our much creative, self-reliant and beloved vendors.
Hakainde, please leave street vendors alone.
Even if you are NOT interested in staying in or retaining power, please let sleeping dogs lie.
Street vendors are entrepreneurs.
They do NOT rely on government support to survive.
They thrive themselves.
And the only difference between them and department stores/malls is government attitude.
Any government that harasses or mistreats vendors is veritably IDIOTIC.
And the UPND, which understands CAPITAL, should be the last to exhibit such retrogressive conduct.
Vendors are an integral and vibrant component of Zambia’s economy.
And without the involvement of citizens in the economy, income inequalities and poverty will remain.
Ever since I could speak, whether as an MMD NEC member or as Vice President to Hakainde in the UPND, I have always been on the side of vendors, I always speak in defence of vending.
The world thrive on vendors, trade.
As Vice President for Politics in the UPND, I illustrated what needed to be done about vendors.
In a nutshell, I said that street vending needs to be REGULATED.
One, register all vendors. Give them identification cards each with a bar code/TPIN.
Two, classify them [Foodstuffs, clothes, hardware, etc]. Colour code them if you like You can even require them to wear uniforms, further creating business linkages.
Three, build investment and entrepreneurship capacity in them by letting the Zambia Development Agency [ZDA], through workshops, teach them about cashflow management, credit access and banking.
Four, build public health capacity in them by ensuring the district councils, through workshops, teach them about food handling and hygiene.
Five, build capacity in them by letting the Zambia Revenue Authority [ZRA], through workshops, teach them about the need to and value of paying tax; and further create easy modalities for such payment.
Six, create or re-do the Street Vendors Charter which the district council inspectorates can then follow and enforce.
Hakainde cannot feed citizens.
And he does NOT intend to.
Citizens will always look after themselves.
And when they embark on ways to do this, the government must not STOP them but instead should engage them to facilitate the success and regulation of such activities.
Vendors are NOT thieves.
Vendors are entrepreneurs.
Take this,argument for instance, if Zambia had about one million vendors on its SMEs database, and each one of them paid one Kwacha per day as tax, Zambia [ZRA] would raise one million Kwacha every day, which money could then be re-invested in building primary schools, ablution blocks and market stalls, further uplifting the standards of life of the same vendors.
See?
Hakainde, please do NOT fix vendors.
If you do, they will FIX you.
Hakainde, whatever you do everyday should be of benefit to the people.
Be on their side always. Remember, Zambians come first.
Remove vendors today.
Trust me, they will remove you tomorrow.
On one hand, you raise prices of essential commodities.
On the hand, you want to remove the citizens’ source of income?
What economics is this?
Stop this anti-SMEs attitude forthwith.
Ma vendors ni banthu nawo.
Dziko ni lao.
Anyone who harasses a local entrepreneur, regardless of the size and nature of the entrepreneurship, is STUPID. Period.
And stupidity in government is NOT part of the Eighth National Development Plan [ENDP].
It is only when Zambians own the means of production that their poverty will end.
For as long as Zambians do not OWN the economy, for as long as they remain only PERIPHERAL actors in the economy such clerks or labourers, poverty in Zambia will NOT end.
It follows then that, Hakainde, as our Republican President, what you do every day must necessarily be focused on SHIFTING the ownership of Zambia’s economy from foreigners onto citizens.
Should you fail to do this, you will be a sorry national flop, you will only succeed in entrenching the interests of imperialists in Zambia, and subsequently, defrauding the very country you call your own.
Hakainde, do NOT fix Zambians.
Or is this the New Down?
Leave the vendors alone.
Or they won’t leave you alone.
Let Zambians become employers.
And foreigners, employees.
Zambia is for Zambians.
Afrika, twisebana!
A luta continua!
Indeed, the struggle continues!
Dr Canisius BANDA. Development Activist
Mweba TALABA
[On vending]
By Dr. Canisius Banda
Globalisation, when not carefully handled, destroys SMEs and such local entrepreneurial initiatives.
Nations thrive only when citizens thrive.
It would not be surprising to learn that Republican President Hakainde HICHILEMA is under pressure from imperial and globalisation forces to, inter alia, harass our much creative, self-reliant and beloved vendors.
Hakainde, please leave street vendors alone.
Even if you are NOT interested in staying in or retaining power, please let sleeping dogs lie.
Street vendors are entrepreneurs.
They do NOT rely on government support to survive.
They thrive themselves.
And the only difference between them and department stores/malls is government attitude.
Any government that harasses or mistreats vendors is veritably IDIOTIC.
And the UPND, which understands CAPITAL, should be the last to exhibit such retrogressive conduct.
Vendors are an integral and vibrant component of Zambia’s economy.
And without the involvement of citizens in the economy, income inequalities and poverty will remain.
Ever since I could speak, whether as an MMD NEC member or as Vice President to Hakainde in the UPND, I have always been on the side of vendors, I always speak in defence of vending.
The world thrive on vendors, trade.
As Vice President for Politics in the UPND, I illustrated what needed to be done about vendors.
In a nutshell, I said that street vending needs to be REGULATED.
One, register all vendors. Give them identification cards each with a bar code/TPIN.
Two, classify them [Foodstuffs, clothes, hardware, etc]. Colour code them if you like You can even require them to wear uniforms, further creating business linkages.
Three, build investment and entrepreneurship capacity in them by letting the Zambia Development Agency [ZDA], through workshops, teach them about cashflow management, credit access and banking.
Four, build public health capacity in them by ensuring the district councils, through workshops, teach them about food handling and hygiene.
Five, build capacity in them by letting the Zambia Revenue Authority [ZRA], through workshops, teach them about the need to and value of paying tax; and further create easy modalities for such payment.
Six, create or re-do the Street Vendors Charter which the district council inspectorates can then follow and enforce.
Hakainde cannot feed citizens.
And he does NOT intend to.
Citizens will always look after themselves.
And when they embark on ways to do this, the government must not STOP them but instead should engage them to facilitate the success and regulation of such activities.
Vendors are NOT thieves.
Vendors are entrepreneurs.
Take this,argument for instance, if Zambia had about one million vendors on its SMEs database, and each one of them paid one Kwacha per day as tax, Zambia [ZRA] would raise one million Kwacha every day, which money could then be re-invested in building primary schools, ablution blocks and market stalls, further uplifting the standards of life of the same vendors.
See?
Hakainde, please do NOT fix vendors.
If you do, they will FIX you.
Hakainde, whatever you do everyday should be of benefit to the people.
Be on their side always. Remember, Zambians come first.
Remove vendors today.
Trust me, they will remove you tomorrow.
On one hand, you raise prices of essential commodities.
On the hand, you want to remove the citizens’ source of income?
What economics is this?
Stop this anti-SMEs attitude forthwith.
Ma vendors ni banthu nawo.
Dziko ni lao.
Anyone who harasses a local entrepreneur, regardless of the size and nature of the entrepreneurship, is STUPID. Period.
And stupidity in government is NOT part of the Eighth National Development Plan [ENDP].
It is only when Zambians own the means of production that their poverty will end.
For as long as Zambians do not OWN the economy, for as long as they remain only PERIPHERAL actors in the economy such clerks or labourers, poverty in Zambia will NOT end.
It follows then that, Hakainde, as our Republican President, what you do every day must necessarily be focused on SHIFTING the ownership of Zambia’s economy from foreigners onto citizens.
Should you fail to do this, you will be a sorry national flop, you will only succeed in entrenching the interests of imperialists in Zambia, and subsequently, defrauding the very country you call your own.
Hakainde, do NOT fix Zambians.
Or is this the New Down?
Leave the vendors alone.
Or they won’t leave you alone.
Let Zambians become employers.
And foreigners, employees.
Zambia is for Zambians.
Afrika, twisebana!
A luta continua!
Indeed, the struggle continues!
Dr Canisius BANDA. Development Activist