Tue, 13 Feb 2018 10:00:38 +0000
By ALFRED TEMBO
Zambia should move towards collaborative engagement in dealing with hygiene issues for the country to combat the rise in health related problems, a psychosocial expert has advised.
Repssi Country Director Kelvin Ngoma whose non-governmental organisation (NGO) focuses on psychosocial wellbeing of people, said the country’s prolonged shift in accepting ownership of keeping the environment clean should be the primary focus in changing mindsets towards national development.
“As communities that form a country we are facing a stiff change in the way national development is implemented, this in mainly attributed to the fact that we first need to own our communities to such an extent that we are pushed to keep them clean than waiting for other people to do that for us.
“We are liable to change our mind sets at community level before we are anticipating change at a national scale.
“Initially once we attain this milestone, we are able to enhance our productivity at all levels of our economic activities,” said Mr. Ngoma at the launch of a clean-up campaign held at the Civic Centre in Lusaka at the weekend.
And Lusaka Mayor, Wilson Kalumba, said he was excited to collaborate with think tanks and organisations that hope for a better Lusaka.
“We are overwhelmed as a city, there is a lot of pressure on resources, everyone thinks Lusaka is land of opportunities, when in actual fact it is causing a lot of panic for civic leaders to find solutions that helps contain the rising crises.
“I feel honoured that such organisations are stepping forward with solutions and submission to some of our long stand challenges.
“The development is a progression in addressing our shortcomings in handling garbage that sometimes goes for a longer period of time uncollected due to our lack of resources and finances to bankroll these health related areas of concern, “said Mr. Kalumba.
