MALAWI STRUGGLES WITH STREET VENDORS

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000351

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S G. MALLORY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ECON ELAB MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI STRUGGLES WITH STREET VENDORS

REF: LILONGWE 124


1. As the GOM moves to impose order on the thickets of street
vendors in Blantyre and Lilongwe, the vendors have offered
little resistance following Monday's clash in Blantyre.
April 18 marked the GOM's delayed deadline for street vendors
to leave the streets for government-built market buildings.
The GOM abandoned its early February deadline after vendors
rioted in Lilongwe over the arrest of the vendors'
association leader.


2. The GOM and city assemblies, not wanting a repeat of the
February violence, have prepared more carefully for this
month's deadline. City and GOM tax authorities have been
working to register the vendors' businesses, and most of the
vendors' improvised lean-tos were cleared away over the
four-day Easter holiday. On Easter Monday, though, street
vendors in Blantyre gathered for what they have called a
prayer meeting and what police have called an unauthorized
assembly, which ended in 40 arrests and several injuries.


3. The resistance to operating in the designated market areas
revolves around several issues. Vendors argue that the
market structures are too small for the number of vendors and
that the markets are not as well located as the informal
locations. In addition, some vendors are reluctant to
register, as this may compel them to pay taxes for the first
time. In answer to the argument about space, which has
obvious merit, the Lilongwe city management has hastily
extended the official area and allocated spaces for hundreds
of additional vendors. While the city has promised a roofed
structure for the new area, it is allowing lean-tos for the
short term.


4. In Lilongwe's market area this week, calm prevailed as
some vendors anxiously surveyed their assigned spaces and
others continued to negotiate with city officials for more
stalls. The vendors we talked to sounded generally
optimistic and placed the blame for whatever tension remained
with the minority of vendors who have not registered and
appear to be out of the pecking order. Most predicted a
peaceful resolution to the situation, at least in Lilongwe.
However, established shops in the old town area, owned mostly
by Indians and Pakistanis, were shuttered against the
possibility of violence.


5. COMMENT: The problem of regulating Malawi's informal
retail sector is not an easy one. The sector sprang into
life during the Muluzi administration, largely as a reaction
against decades of repressing any action independent of the
heavy state machinery. Twelve years of non-regulation later,
the sector has become a real problem, with chaotic markets,
choked city streets, and public sanitation that can only be
termed frightful. The Mutharika administration has been slow
coming to grips with this problem, and it has made several
false starts. While the threat of some violence is by no
means gone, there appears to be a peaceful resolution in
sight.
EASTHAM