The street vending nightmare in Blantyre City

Malawi is a country that is not short of surprises. We can as well celebrate embracing street vending for the same period we have been independent. But years down the line, the same street vending we celebrated has come back to haunt us. As long as street vending is tolerated, the efforts to keep our cities and towns clean will be fruitless. My take is that people who are calling for the removal of street vendors are justified.

Whether it is a pit latrine or it is so advanced that it flushes on its own, a toilet is a toilet. So, for some to hold on to street vending is no good, because by classification streets are streets, road reserves are road reserves, so respectively are footpaths and service leeways, which we should all allow that they serve their respective purposes.

Thus, street vendors should not be entertained because a seller and buyer have designated places for doing business such as in markets. Just as the case is with any aspect of life, the gist of doing business also calls for law and order, one of which is where to do it.

Imagine what could have happened if our forefathers had disrespected by-laws that stipulate that markets establishment only lie in the hands of a district commissioner or chief executive of that particular local authority.

Sad, though, that just as it is difficult to enforce many existing laws and policies, it is also not easy to act on those who violate the stipulated city by-laws that govern markets, giving an impression that any person can just wake up and trade anywhere.

It is a pity that because we continue to smile at nuisance that ought to have been uprooted some 50 years back, we now talk of minibus touts turned into pick pocketers and beggars that terrorise people on the streets.

Look at the self-made and tolerated congestion that comes with the street vending. It not only disturbs traffic flow but window shopping (the economy rarely affords real shopping nowadays) and freedom of movement as well.

I try to avoid discussing security issues in public but for purposes of this subject, I can challenge that during the time our streets are infested by vendors, the crime rate surges.

The money spent in the various operations to do with vendors could have been used for other developments. The vendors should go back to where they belong, the markets.

Shamefully we cannot even look at the large sums of money spent in the construction and running of the underutilised markets. We fail to even take stock of the huge sums of money that we lose out to those trading in the streets and other illegal places.

It is human to complain, but some justification of street vending is questionable. Some say there is lack of space in markets, but how come most of the markets stock what they are not supposed to? Why do other vendors occupy multiple spaces and why do some people without merchandise own spaces in the markets?

Yet, others argue that they would want to get closer to customers. But to be honest, customers would find buying more comfortable in the markets than on the street. People from residential areas around the Blantyre City Centre even travel as far as Lunzu to get what they want. What would stop a customer from going to a market within the city centre?

I hope you, dear readers, appreciate that street vending impedes on efforts to maintain cleanliness, is a menace to our economy, breeds criminal behaviour and hampers development.

So, let us all support the removal of vendors off the streets. It is justifiable. Streets are streets. It is markets that are places for vending!

The author is an assistant security officer for Blantyre City Council writing in his personal capacity.