MPs back informal sector development
Gothataone Moeng | Friday March 28, 2014 14:27
In their responses to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) budget proposals this week, MPs said there was need to develop and protect informal traders, as the informal trade is a source of income for many.
MP for Gaborone West South Botsalo Ntuane said when it comes to the informal sector, it seems as if, in government “the right hand does not know what the left is doing.”
He said on the one hand, the MTI seems to be pro-informal sector, while the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) appears to be very hostile. He called for the reconciliation of policies between the two ministries that would ensure a ‘permanent, durable solution’ for the problem, instead of, what he called, the periodic harassment of informal traders.
The Member of Parliament for Tonota South Fidelis Molao also expressed concern about the treatment of informal traders, arguing that he was disappointed that Minister Dorcas Makgato-Malesu did not mention strategies for their development.
South East South MP Odirile Motlhale decried that small businesses have been disadvantaged by the advent of big multinational corporations into rural villages, that share same business activities as the informal traders. He said this is killing small businesses. He suggested that government should promulgate policies or laws for the protection of small businesses, such as limiting the hours of operation of multinationals to give small traders an opportunity to prosper.
The MPs sentiments come in a year in which city councils in the two cities of Francistown and Gaborone have been involved in tussles with informal traders, in which the city councils sought to evict traders from their spots.