Former National Energy Sector and Allied Workers Union General Secretary has urged government to allow bars and night clubs to operate in order to ease people’s financial burdens.
Yotam Mtayachalo told Money FM News that it is a fact that beer business in the country is a huge industry employing thousands of Zambians but that the sector has been neglected.
Mr. Mtayachalo observed that the majority of Zambians depend on the industry for their daily economic survival, while other businesses like markets which are very congested have been allowed to operate despite the Covid19 pandemic, a situation he says is unfair because bar and night club owners equally have financial obligations to meet especially in the hostile economic environment.
“First and foremost speaking from a trade union point of view allow me to express my serious reservations in regard to the plight of thousands of workers who have lost their livelihoods countrywide in the past three months as the result of indefinite closure of bars and night club as a preventive measure to stem the spread of Covid19.”
He said government has allowed chain stores to sell beer which is tantamount to enriching foreign investors at the expense of local businesses which have been shut down for more than three months without any mitigating measures.
“Further the government has allowed chain stores to sell beer which is tantamount to enriching foreign investors at the expense of local businesses which have been shut down for more than three months now without any mitigating measures like what other governments in the region have done to cushion the negative impact of Covid19 which is grossly unfair and being insensitive to the plight of bar and night club owners,” Mr. Mtayachalo said.
Mr. Mtayachalo added that he stands on firm solidarity with the Bar Owners Association of Zambia and other stakeholders in urging government to announce a road map towards the reopening of bars and night clubs provided that strict health regulations are adhered to failure to which trading licenses for those who disregard health guidelines must be revoked.
“Furthermore, I have also noticed with dismay the double standards which is being exhibited by authorities operating their bars normally while others are not allowed to do so, typical of animal farm type of arrangement as poor people who are found trading in beer to sustain their livelihoods authorities are confiscating or destroying their commodity and in some rural areas there are beaten and locked up in police cells instead of charging them a penalty fee in order to preserve their limited working capital,” he stated.