Cholera outbreak puts 22,000 Jobs on ice in Lusaka

The Cholera outbreak which has emanated from the capital city of Zambia, Lusaka has led the established committee comprising of the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environment, the combined Defense Forces to combat the outbreak to ban street vending and cordon off most parts of the city were self-employed traders make their ends meat.

Minister of Local Government, Vincent Mwale whose ministry is at the center of accusations of incompetency for failure to carry out its mandate which would have prevented the outbreak in the first place announced that this ban will affect about 22,000 informal traders.

The Zambian government is yet to announce its policy or targets for creation and formalization of currently “formal jobs” to formal jobs. The number of formal jobs which by proxy is measured by number of people that contribute to the national pension scheme (NAPSA), has not expanded at the expected rate.

The last reported number of contributors to the public pension scheme was estimated around 800,000. The licensing system currently under the responsibility of city and municipal councils under the local government ministry which would have effectively be used to regulate the number of traders and used to bring into the formal sector has totally collapsed as licenses are issued without due regard for market size and availability of designated or specially constructed trading places.

Minister Mwale announced long term measures that would take about 24 months to re-construct a three stores at the site of the gutted city market and that one of the mines on the Copperbelt has offered to build the structure. Mwale further announced that he has plans to build up the Lumumba bus station and create additional trading spaces so that all the 22,000 street vendors can be accommodated. It was not however announced if this number included the expected new entrants in the 24 months construction period.

The collapse of the local government system has led to failure to implement the decentralization policy, failure to coordinate and expand the treated water reticulation system and establishment of a Sewerage and waste disposal systems across the country. Though we are aware that the need to suspend street vending is immediate, there is need to plan and put in place short to medium term measures and options that will enable the affected 22,000 informal traders earn their ends meet.

The Central statistics office estimated a family size of about 5.5, so the impact of loss of revenue for the 22,000 traders affects over 121,000 Zambians. It’s the duty of the government to coordinate and call upon experts, opposition parties and relevant stakeholders from different fields in Zambia and abroad to come up with tangible solutions. There is a risk of solving one problem and creating two or more new problems, tantamount to taking one step forward and two steps backwards.