Some Mobile Money Booth Operators along Great East Road have questioned government’s delay to offer them an alternative trading area three months after their booths were removed from the streets.
Those talked to by Phoenix News have complained that the silence by government to provide an alternative solution of putting up shelter for them is worrying especially that the rainy season is approaching.
They have further complained that they have lost business to mobile money customers who would want to transact huge sums of money due to lack of privacy as they are operating in open places.
The Mobile Money Operators who have started going back to their old trading places with small tables for their businesses have since asked government through the ministry of local government to quickly look into their plight and put up proper shelters for them at bus stops along great east road as these are convenient points for their business.
In July this year, government removed mobile money booths along great east road and in the central business district as way to bring sanity in the city during the Mid-Year Africa Union Summit hosted by Zambia.
But Ministry of Local Government Permanent Secretary In Charge of Administration Maambo Hamaundu urged the Mobile Money Operators to find their own trading places as government will not support the setting up of mobile booths in undesignated places such as bus stops and along the roads.