By KALOBWE BWALYA and GIDEON NYENDWA
THE removal mobile money booths is not political but to bring sanity, however Lusaka City Council is looking for a permanent place where the operations would be relocated, Minister of Local Government Rural Development Garry Nkombo has disclosed.
Mr Nkombo said the removal of the booths was done in the spirit of orderliness contrary to what some people are saying.
The minister said this in Lusaka when he flagged off a three-day cleaning exercise yesterday.
He however disclosed that the ministry and the association for mobile money operators was in agreement with the relocation.
He said his office has been in talks with mobile booths’ operators since last year in September and agreed collectively that they should be relocated.
He however said the council is working to ensure that every operator is designated to a permanent place.
Mr Nkombo observed the need for the country to have highest levels of cleanliness, therefore the need to emphasise cleanliness in Lusaka.
Mr Nkombo observed that the generation of refuse has outstripped the capacity to many local authorities across the country.
Meanwhile, Lusaka Mayor Chilando Chitangala has bemoaned the vandalism of refuse bins in the city while others are stolen.
Ms Chitangala said some unscrupulous people are stealing metals from the bins and selling them as scrap metals which is criminal.
She said the council through the public health department has been spearheading the “Keep Zambia Clean, Green and Healthy” campaign activities in the district.
“It is worrying to see people littering and damaging waste receptacles when they have been put in strategic points with a view of avoiding littering,” Ms Chitangala said.
And Stanbic Bank Zambia chief executive fficer Mwindwa Siakalima said the bank wants to join efforts in cleaning up the city.
Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) acting president Given Lubinda has advised mobile money booth operators with licences and receipts of payment to go to the party’s secretariat with their documents.
Mr Lubinda said the PF would help the people with licences and receipts to fight for justice and they would also protect them.
He said if government wanted to keep the CBD clean as they were claiming they would have started the cleanup in August 2021 when the just won the elections
Mr Lubinda said the reason they had removed mobile money booths was because they wanted to show off to their foreign friends that Zambia was clean during the African Union summit that will be held in Zambia.
He said PF was a pro-poor party and they were going to have a meeting with all the PF councillors and the mayor to understand the councils point of view.
Author
