Dedza District Council has lost MK 3 million in the past three months following the boycotting of payment of market fees by the vendors at Dedza Central Market.
In April, this year (2018), vendors at Dedza Central Market started boycotting payment of market fees accusing the council of poor sanitation and lack of transparency and accountability and among other reasons.
Speaking in an interview with Malawi News Agency, District Commissioner for Dedza, Ellis Tembo, said the amount of money the council has lost has affected its operations as it has used borrowed money to solve some issues it has encountered.
“As the council, we rely on the central market as money collected through payment of market fees is used for many activities like payment of salaries for direct employees, fuel and allowances for removing wastes at the market and also fuel for transportation of chiefs,” he explained, adding that the council had so far borrowed about MK6 million in order to address the challenges.
He said currently, the council has addressed half of the issues the vendors raised in their petition with the borrowed money.
He therefore said that the council is happy that the vendors have resumed payment of the fees at the market.
Speaking in a separate interview, Chairman for Dedza Central Market, Filimoni Ngozo said vendors have now resumed paying market fees after the council started addressing the issues the vendors raised in their petition.
Ngozo disclosed that so far, the council has addressed four issues out of the eight the vendors raised in the petition and that some of them addressed are of sanitation and electricity among others.