By JOSEPH BANDA  and
MILDRED KATONGO –
VENDORS and marketeers have demanded for an apology from United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema for belittling them and condemning President Edgar Lungu’s initiative to give them soft loans to expand their businesses.
The National Traders and Marketeers Association of Zambia  (NATAMAZ) and the Association of Vendors and Marketeers Association of Zambia (AVAMAZ) said in a joint statement yesterday that Mr Hichilema should not politicise President Lungu’s initiative to help people in the informal sector.
But United Party for National Development (UPND) spokesperson Charles Kakoma clarified that Mr Hichilema did not condemn the initiative, but suggested that the loan facility would be converted into a grant, once he was voted into office.
Mr Kakoma said the UPND leader said the funds were too little to make an impact in the traders businesses.
He said Mr Hichilema would not apolgise because he was merely trying to reason and help the maketeers and not condemning the loans.
“I must say that the statement that Mr Hichilema is condemning the soft loans for maketeers is a misrepresentation of facts. Our president did not condemn, but only said that the soft loans were too small to make an impact in the business. He cannot apologise but the traders misrepresented the facts,” he said.
Mr Kakoma said maketeers should not even insist seeking an apology from Mr Hichilema because once they understand the facts, the president was not condemning the loans.
NATAMAZ president Goodson Mofya and AVAMAZ president Frederick Chikwa said their associations were disturbed with Mr Hakainde Hichilema who had been going round saying their members would not benefit from the initiative.
They said traders had appreciated the president’s gesture because most people depended on the informal sector for their survival.
“All Mr Hichilema is doing is making promises he may not fulfill but President Lungu has acted and our members have appreciated and their businesses have been pushed forward regardless of their scale.
“We feel insulted that a person who is in a position to acquire loans from banks can tell us that the money we are receiving will not help us,” they said.
The traders said as a person eyeing the highest office in the land Mr Hichilema should apologise for saying that the money they were receiving in form of a revolving fund would not help them in any way.
They said that of all the presidents, it was only Mr Lungu who had realised that people in the informal sector needed a boost for them to grow their businesses.
If Mr Hichilema has the money why did he not help the traders but was quick to condemn something that was helping the people who needed assistance.
They said widows, the aged and other people who had nowhere to run to when they wanted to expand their business were benefiting from the initiative and it was unacceptable for anyone to demean them.
Mr Mofya and Mr Chikwa advised their members to ignore Mr Hichilema because the programme was being rolled out to all parts of Zambia.