Sat, 20 Jan 2018 10:26:35 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
BWANA Mkubwa member of Parliament Jonas Chanda has called on all well-meaning Zambians to support President Lungu for showing great and bold leadership in the fight against cholera.
Dr Chanda thanked Mr. Lungu for exercising his powers as Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces to direct the military to work with local government authorities in cleaning up the central business districts of major cities and towns in Zambia.
He said the President’s urban renewal program was the only way to correct unfortunate situations like uncontrolled street vending.
He noted that construction of market stores on top of drainage, sewer pipes, and high pressure water pipes needed to be addressed.
“At the height of the cholera epidemic, we saw how the President went down to ground zero in the epicentres of affected Lusaka townships where he summoned the ministers of Health, Local Government, and Water, Sanitation and Environmental Protection and got them to work in an integrated manner. “These coordinated efforts are paying off with the reduction in new cholera cases. The President’s push for an urban renewal program involving the clean-up of the city centres and markets must be greatly commended. He is not making cheap populist decisions like most politicians are always inclined to do,” Dr. Chanda said.
Meanwhile, Dr Chanda has also appealed to all Zambians to take responsibility by not throwing litter and garbage anyhow, and to the councils to collect garbage from markets and other public places on a regular basis.
“Looking at the list of the top cleanest cities in Africa, Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and other towns do not even make it in the top 20 or 30 list. We should not be proud of the fact that our Zambian cities are considered dirty and prone to outbreaks of serious diseases like cholera, typhoid and dysentery,” he said
He hoped that the Ministry of Local Government would be decentralised soon and introduce performance contracts so that President Lungu’s urban renewal exercise could be sustained rather than it being a one-off programme.
