CEE Fund "a raw deal", Zambian small scale traders say

The Zambia Small Scale Traders Association (ZSSTA) criticizes government’s initiative to release funds to empower people with little businesses. The business people can not access the funds due to unfriendly conditions attached.

Association president Misheck Banda says the Zambian government should consider relaxing conditions attached to the fund to enable the intended people benefit from the initiative. “we as an association feel the empowerment fund initiative is a failure as many small scale traders in the country are unable to access it”, Banda told this web. He observed that many traders were still finding it difficult to progress in their business because of ‘tough’ conditions put in place by the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) the body tasked to administer the fund.

Banda said the demand for collateral usually beyond applicants reach by the commission for them to access the funds has rendered the funds inaccessible by many. The other difficulty is that government asks the applicants to write business proposals when some of them can't write due to illiteracy.

Just a political gimmick?

CEEF, a revolving fund, is a scheme established under the Citizen Economic Empowerment Act No 9 of 2006 of the laws of Zambia. The funds are aimed at providing financial capital to small scale businesses as a way of empowering the local people to set up sustainable businesses. It is believed that through this initiative, many Zambians would be encouraged to open up businesses to improve livelihood especially for the large population of the unemployed citizens.

The funding initiative has a political pretense as many government officials argue that the funds which were released two years ago are so far benefiting the people of Zambia, but for Banda and many other citizens ;this is viewed as a political gimmick aimed at deceiving the electorate. “The government should not claim to be on the right path with these funds because the intended persons have not benefited from it”. This for me is pure politics”, added the ZSSTA leader.

Dennis Chanda Chisanga