BCC engages police to end street vending
In a bid to keep vendors off streets and keep Blantyre clean, Blantyre City Council (BCC) has involved Malawi Police Service (MPS) officers to bar vendors from trading outside designated areas on daily basis.
BCC public relations manager Anthony Kasunda, in an e-mailed response to a questionnaire yesterday, said the council will continue to carry out ‘Operation Dongosolo’ as long as vendors keep coming back on the streets.
Without giving an exact figure, Kasunda said the operation is costly and BCC wishes vendors obeyed its plea to evacuate all areas that are not designated as markets.
He said: “We are conducting the exercise in response to demand and we would have loved if vendors heeded our call to trade in designated markets. We could have channelled the money to other equally important areas.”
National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo, in an interview yesterday, said police have always conducted night patrols, but the newly recruited 1 874 police officers have beefed up the number of officers involved in the exercise.
She said: “Conducting patrols is our normal duty and we would like to urge the public that they should join hands with police officers because the issue of security cannot be left to the police service alone.”
Street vending in the country’s cities and towns has been a major concern.
