Sat, 14 Jan 2017 09:46:26 +0000
CASUAL workers engaged by Ndola City Council (NCC) have withdrawn labour due to non-payment of salaries resulting in piling up of garbage in markets for the last four months.
And Kabushi Member of Parliament Bowman Lusambo and eight ward councillors have raised K20, 000 for garbage collection in the entire constituency.
NCC Deputy Mayor Kenny Kasabo, in an interview with the Daily Nation, disclosed that the issue of non-availability of funds has hampered the local authority from doing its work.
The Lubuto ward councillor said the local authority has been owing all the workers engaged on casual basis for the last seven months.
Councillor Kasabo said the local authority has been facing challenges in revenue collection and it has since brought it to the attention of the relevant officers who were devising new means of improving the collections.
“Yes, I can confirm the complaint from the casual workers who have withdrawn labour but what I want to state is that today (Friday) the council has begun settling their salary arrears for the past seven months.
“You can bear me witness that some workers have since returned to work,” he said.
However, the casual workers found at Masala market disputed the claims by the deputy mayor alleging that they have gone for nine months without pay.
The workers, who sought anonymity, said they have suffered for a long time without being paid and the local authority has not stated clearly on when they would be paid.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lusambo said he has engaged the councillors in his constituency to raise the funds to ensure that sanity returned to the markets.
Flagging off the garbage collection exercise at Masala and Kapalala markets in Ndola, Mr. Lusambo described the situation at the markets as pathetic.
He said as elected Member of Parliament, he would ensure that garbage was collected consistently.
He promised that he would deliver on his campaign promises.
“We cannot subject people to be trading in such environments where there is bad smell and garbage.
“The councillors from this community and I will ensure that we collect garbage. We promised people during campaigns that we will work and we are doing that,” he said.
Mr Lusambo promised that the traders would soon have a modern ablution block at Kapalala.
