By CHILA NAMAIKO –
LUSAKA Mayor Wilson Kalumba accompanied by health inspectors from the Lusaka City Council (LCC) yesterday conducted impromptu inspections of a number of shops and butchers in the central business district (CDB) to check on the compliance of their trading licences.
Mr Kalumba and his team discovered that some shops and butcheries are operating unlawfully after the expiry of their trading licences.
The mayor, however, advised the owners to renew their trading licences or face prosecution.
The exercise saw the closure of Grant Butchery Halaal, on Freedom Way, after Mr Kalumba and his team learnt that its trading licence expired and the workers wore inappropriate working attire.
Other shops inspected included Kalundwe Stores, Katono Enterprises, Ilyas Distributors, Kohinoor Limited in which most of them had their trading licences expired.
Mr Kalumba said the Local Authority was left with no option, but to start prosecuting the erring proprietors that had decided to abrogate the law by not renewing their trading licences.
He told journalists shortly after the inspection that it was from such non-renewal of licences that the Government was being ‘robbed’ of the much-needed tax from various business houses.
“As a local authority, we are carrying out these impromptu inspections to have an understanding of the compliance levels and see shops and butchers that are not paying for business levies, fire certificates and other requirements by law,” he said.
Mr Kalumba also warned of prosecuting various business houses, that were not subscribed for the collection of garbage from their premises to the local authority.
He said there was a tendency by some shop owners engaging private garbage collectors, that were even not registered at LCC and were fond of throwing garbage indiscriminately.
He advised such business houses that were not registered for the subscription of garbage collection to do with LCC saying the heaps of garbage in the CBD posed a healthy risk.
Mr Kalumba said the random inspections would continue until sanity was brought to ensure compliance on trading licences and subscription on garbage collection.