BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
MARKETEERS in Mulungushi ward 18 in Olympia Township have called on the government for an empowerment initiative to help boost their businesses and improve their livelihood.
According to those spoken to yesterday, the introduction of an empowerment fund would assist them with capital for their businesses, which they said, were currently not sustaining their families.
One of the marketers Ms Dessy Chanda lamented that the empowerment fund initiative, which was being offered to other marketeers, had not been introduced at Olympia market.
The marketeers, Ms Chanda explained, signed empowerment forms three years ago but nothing had come out from the exercise.
“We do not have enough capital for our business, we are asking Government to empower us with some funds. We also want to access the funds from the empowerment initiative which our friends are benefitting from,
Meanwhile, another marketer identified as Ms Masengo narrated that each marketer paid K41 in 2016 to some Government officials to be on an empowerment fund but that was all they had heard from them.
“We paid K41 per person three years ago and we signed all the forms for women empowerment programme. But we have never received any empowerment funding from Government. Most of us are voters. We love our President who we think is able to help us with some empowerment funds,” Ms Masengo said