It’s not the right time to talk about ridding streets off small buses

By Daily Revelation Editor

The Bus and Taxi Owners Association of Zambia (BTOAZ) has asked the UPND administration through Transport minister Frank Tayali to reconsider the proposal to remove Toyota Hiace vehicles from the road and instead work towards making inclusive solutions that address congestion while safeguarding the interests of transport operators and the broader economy.

Association chairperson Sydney Chewe accused Tayali of making the pronouncement without consulting the owners of the buses or the association which represented them.

 He wondered how Zambians would be empowered if the right to operate small buses was taken away from them, arguing that public transport business was the second employer to the government and many will be left out in the cold if Tayali goes ahead to implement his pronouncement.

He argued that the government is doing so when fuel prices are at their highest and when many are shunning buses and deciding to walk because of the very high cost of living, and subsequently making reinvestment into the business more challenging, as the same problems have been compounded by the weakening Kwacha.

We agree that the bus drivers are mostly a nuisance on public roads and causing all sorts of problems including the same congestion the minister is talking about. Of course ways could be found to work around this by engaging the bus and taxi owners and the bus drivers and conductors themselves. A lasting solution could be found to this.

However, we do not think that the government has got an immediate answer the mass unemployment such an action would occasion in the country as this industry alone employs multitudes.

And sometimes it is very important to apply wisdom before announcing certain measures, as this is not the right time to raise such a debate when Zambians are just hanging in there on account of the very harsh economic challenges they are going through. It’s actually insensitive to discuss anything that would result in people losing their jobs given the very dire period we are living in as a country. This is one of the hardest period Zambians have gone through. The Kwacha is depreciating and making business more difficult and raising the cost of living in the country. Fuel prices are at their highest at K34.19 per liter, mealie-meal prices are at their historically highest prices ever seen in this country. Prices of essential goods are going up. The rain season so far has been pathetic, and with it projections of a bad harvest. Not easy at all.

And despite all that, Frank brings in the issue of getting rid of small buses in the country. Now since he’s talking about having big buses on the streets, when those small ones are sold there will be need to top up in order to secure the big buses. How many will manage to buy the new big buses given the current harsh economic situation and considering how expensive the imports have become on account of the weakened Kwacha? Isn’t that sending many into destitution? In times such as this it’s important to keep the small employment numbers that you have than losing any single job in the economy.

And are there no better ways of reducing congestion on the roads? How about building more roads and flyovers for instance or even extending the towns and building new ones. Can’t the government use this problem as a blessing in disguise by actually using it as an opportunity to steer fiscal expansion and employment given the depressed situation the country is in? The government could actually increase revenue especially from the mines to generate the much needed fiscal expansion that would generate economic activity in the country.

Ba Tayali and your colleagues in government please rethink that position you have come up with. If you insist on ridding the streets of those small buses, then please let it be a phased approach that will be borne out of genuine compromise with all the stakeholders.