BCC boss commends vendors, stakeholders for unity
The Blantyre City Council chief executive officer ( CEO), Ted Nandolo has commended vendors and stakeholders in Blantyre City for working together to ensure that all street vendors have reverted to their designated market places.
Nandolo made the remarks in an interview with the Malawi News Agency (Mana) and has since described the development as a peaceful process.
“I am very grateful to the vendors in the city for abiding to by- laws instituted by the city assembly that they should move out from the streets and enter the market premises a move that has happened without hassles.
“I particularly commend the Malawi Police Service, the vendors’ association officials and the assembly staff for their collaborative efforts to make sure that every merchandiser is allocated the right place in the city,” said Nandolo.
“This time around we worked in a smooth environment without any political interference as compared to the past, a development which I hope will prevail at all times,” added Nandolo.
He, however, bemoaned the tendency of some vendors to go back saying this interferes with street users in the city including the collection of the city rates which the assembly uses to run its services.
The city boss said Blantyre and Limbe markets alone cannot accommodate all the vendors as such, he called upon the city residents to make use of locally available market facilities within their localities where they can equally run their businesses.
“People say that there is no room in Blantyre or Limbe markets but in their locations there are markets as well. If they are of poor quality they have to come and discuss with the BCC,” explained Nandolo.
Commenting on cleanliness in the city, the CEO said it is everybody’s responsibility to ensure that the town is tidy by making use of the available skips and bins.
Through a number of interviews carried out in Blantyre and Limbe recently revealed that many people are happy with the removal of the vendors from the city streets, a situation they say has facilitated security as well as cleanliness in the city .
