WHY is there a strange trait in certain groups in society? They behave as if the law did not apply to them by being disobedient and sowing seeds of disorder.
A few months ago, when the Ministry of Local Government announced a ban on street vending, all efforts were directed at ensuring that the country’s streets were free from this kind of irrational conduct.
During the clean-up, especially in Lusaka, it was discovered that under the cover of darkness, these street vendors found ways of selling illicit substances, such as drugs, kachasu ‘an illegal spirit’, the list is endless. Worse still, criminal elements also thrived on the streets.
To hear that council police sirens are already screaming because the scourge had returned to the streets is unfortunate.
The question begs, why has this vice been allowed back on the streets of Lusaka?
There are laws that govern this country and they should be followed to the book. As explained on numerous occasions, street vending brings with it a myriad of vices such as pick-pocketing, substance abuse, prostitution, health hazards and many other undesirables that society has categorised as illegal.
With the onset of the rain season beckoning, the health risks that come with the season such as cholera, typhoid and other communicable diseases are a great concern to the authorities.
Such calamities are costly to Government and it is the people abusing the freedoms that they have been given to trade legally on the streets who are the first to complain to Government when they are afflicted or affected.
The Ndola City Council through its public relations manager Rebecca Mushota yesterday sounded the warning that the threat of vendors re-occupying the streets illegally would be met with the full force of the law.
The message is simple, and all local authorities must act decisively against the scourge resurfacing.
The bad history of illegal street vending can not be allowed to return, and all local authorities must ensure that their streets are policed with the vigour and determination of any law enforcement agency backed by the statutes.