Demand council financial reports, market traders told
Mtendere Organisation has challenged market traders in Lilongwe to start demanding financial reports from Lilongwe City Council (LCC).
The organisation’s executive director Trasizio Chilembwe observed that most councils in the country are not taking advantage of vendors’ passivity to abuse funds generated from market fees.
He was speaking when he opened a day-long training workshop for market traders with financial support from Tilitonse Fund.
“The survey we recently conducted in market centres under the LCC revealed that officials entrusted with responsibility to collect market fees and ground and city rates do not declare everything to their bosses.
“Hence, it is important that market traders should start demanding financial reports from the council to verify whether what they contribute (pay) really goes into the account of the council,” he said.
Chilembwe further observed that most of the market centres under LCC are operating without sanitation and hygiene facilities because locally-generated financial resources are not being put to good use.
One of the vendors at Kaliyeka Market, Fatness Ntaja, said lack of sanitation and hygiene facilities is negatively affecting business and livelihoods of the traders and their customers.
Ntaja, therefore, commended Mtendere for initiating the project, saying it will empower the vendors to demand their rights from duty-bearers. n
