Thu, 02 Mar 2017 14:16:53 +0000
IT IS unacceptable that some compounds in Lusaka that existed before Zambia’s Independence are up to now still struggling for official recognition because they have not been gazetted as residential areas deserving attention.
The case of Misisi compound residents who are up in arms against the local party leadership demanding for Government recognition is an eye-opener that Lusaka City Council must wake up and pay attention to the need to ensure that people within their boundaries are treated equally and with respect.
Misisi, one of the poorest and yet potentially magnificent living quarters in Lusaka, is down-trodden through neglect and lack of basic social facilities because it is officially regarded as an illegal settlement many years after people decided to make the area their home.
Because of its ‘‘illegal’’ official connotation, Misisi cannot benefit from the many development projects which Government has embarked on to make life not only pleasant for millions of its people but turn Lusaka into a 21st Century capital city of one of the fast-growing nations aspiring for middle-class status by the year 2030.
Now residents have called on their energetic, young Member of Parliament Lawrence Sichalwe, a Cabinet minister, to summon the energies of the local constituency leadership and work with Government on a mechanism to legalize the compound so that people of Misisi can have access to clean and safe drinking water.
They have complained to their parliamentarian that they were fed up of drinking water from shallow wells, use pit latrines and walk or drive along tracks which they call roads. They demand equal treatment from their civic and political leadership, saying their vote is as important as any from Roma, Ibex Hill, Libala, Matero or Kanyama.
The residents feel that because of the illegality of their settlement it had contributed to under-development of the area where they have no schools, clinics, tarred roads, shopping malls and other vital social amenities which they envy in nearby compounds such as Chawama and Kamwala.
‘‘As residents of Misisi we are appealing to our newly elected leaders to ensure that they help us…..do everything possible to legalise the area; this place has been home to many of us and it is unfortunate that despite a lot of people occupying this area, it is still not a legal settlement,’’ they said.
We urge Chawama parliamentarian Sichalwe to listen to the agony of his voters who put him in power and allowed the President to notice his potential and made him Cabinet minister. It is his onerous duty and commitment to work flat out and convince his colleagues in Government and council to find a solution to the crying need of Misisi being an illegal settlement after so many years of neglect by previous administrations.
Mr Sichalwe must start the long and ardous task of a consultative process to change the status of Misisi by first establishing why this is so and what ought to be done. Only recently, there has been a rumour that Government wanted to relocate residents of certain compounds in Lusaka because they were developed in marshlands or were too crowded to be turned into civilised, acceptable residential areas.
If true, such a development calls for massive investment and tough political choices. Razing down a compound, relocating its thousands of residents and building them new homes is not a one-day assignment.
While the people have a point, sadly Misisi residents may have to wait a little longer. Rome, they say, was not built in a day.
Coming at a time Government is tightening belts, with little money to spare, Misisi residents, like the rest of other occupiers of needy areas in the capital city, have to keep their fingers crossed and pray for a miracle.
That is why many Lusaka residents, despite their desperation, must learn to apply first for where to settle. Illegal settlements are costly to legalise and restore normality. Misisi people were wrong to find themselves where they are without prior Government or council approval.
