CLEAN YOUR SURROUNDINGS, COUNCIL TELLS MARKETEERS

By Morgan Chomba

YOU should learn to clean your surroundings and not just wait for us to do everything for you, failure to which cholera will choke us, the Lusaka City Council (LCC) has warned residents and marketers.   

LCC Public Relations Manager, Chola Mwamba, has challenged residents and traders not to wait for local authorities to clean their surroundings.

Ms. Mwamba has told The Scoop in an interview that the local authority is working towards cleaning the city before the outbreak of any waterborne diseases.

“We are working around the clock to ensure that the city is clean and to prevent another cholera outbreak,” Ms. Mwamba stated, adding that the disease claimed many lives during the last rainy season and posed a threat to economic activities due to the closure of markets.

She has urged the public to maintain high standards of cleanliness and to take the initiative to clean their surroundings and not to wait for the council to do everything for them.

Meanwhile, traders at Kamwala Market are conducting their business with trepidation due to the approaching rainy season and the potential risk of a cholera outbreak.

Ms. Harriet Namuchenje, a trader at Kamwala Market, commended the local authority for its timely garbage collection in recent weeks.

She noted that market leaders had hired a team of youths to manage garbage sites and maintain cleanliness in trading areas.

In Zambia, cholera has been a persistent public health concern for decades, mainly attributed to inadequate sanitation and restricted access to clean water in some parts of the country and the outbreak from October 2023 to February 2024 is seen as one of the most devastating in the country’s history.