Vendors’ strike costs council K0.8 million

Finance committee chairperson for Nkhotakota District Council, Thomas Kasache, says the council has lost about K800 000 from August 13 to September 8 this year due to vendors’ strike at Dwangwa Market.

During the strike, the vendors stopped paying market fees to force the council to elect a new committee.

Kasache was speaking to Malawi News Agency after the council conducted elections for the market committee on Tuesday.

“Apart from affecting our operations, this loss has resulted in delays in paying salaries for our employees,” he said.

One of the vendors, Sosten Sinosi, said they welcomed the elections because the tenure of office for the previous committee had expired.

“As a result, our concerns were not being addressed and that is why we requested the council to conduct the elections.

“The council has been suspending the elections by giving very trivial excuses and we resorted to a strike to force the council to conduct the elections,” he said.

Sinosi said their main concern was that there was no order in conducting business in the market and they are hopeful that the new committee will address this problem.

Newly elected market committee chairperson Rashid Malandula said they plan to improve the running of business in the market.

“We want fellow vendors even from outside the country to learn good things from Dwangwa Market. Vendors should also be trained in business management so that they know how to run their businesses. We also have plans to take part in corporate social responsibility,” Malandula said.

Dwangwa Market is a major source of revenue for Nkhotakota District Council.n