Lilongwe vendors on Thursday condemned politically motivated demonstrations, which said they are disturbing their businesses.
The condemnation came hours after the demonstrations, which were organized by Citizens for Credible Elections, led by Sylvester Namiwa, turned violent.
Speaking to journalists, one of the vendors, Christopher Gona, said the demonstrations have proved to be a great disturbance to businesses, which in turn, is making vendors find it hard to make ends meet.
“We can’t be having demonstrations now and again. We come here to make money to feed our families. Evertime there are demonstrations, we are forced to close shop, which is not on,” he said.
Concurring with Gona, Laston Sulani has called on organizers to consider using other routes, other than targeting central markets.
“We wonder as to why they always use routes that have larger markets. Maybe they are always happy to see our businesses disrupted. They need to think about us vendors, and if possible, there need to be changes in routes,” he said.
