DIRTY CITIES, TOWNS (EDITORIAL COMMENT FOR FRIDAY 8TH AUGUST 2014) Nicholas Banda, the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing, says there is need to reclaim Lusaka’s lost glory of a garden city concept. Banda urges the residents of Lusaka to actively participate in the cleaning of the city. It is true Lusaka has lost its cleanliness. It is a very dirty city. But unfortunately, Lusaka is not the only dirty city or town in Zambia, all our cities and towns, including Chingola that used to be known for its cleanliness, are dirty. It is no wonder our cities and towns are full of rats and cockroaches, spreading all sorts of diseases. There is need to learn from the example of cleanliness being set by State House. This is the cleanest State House has been in many years and credit should go to the comrades who live there and work there. But this example is not being emulated. What is the vision for keeping Lusaka and other cities and towns of our country clean? We don’t want to be told that our cities and towns are not clean because kulibe ndalama. This is not an issue of money. It is simply a question of culture and sensitising the population to it. Dirtiness does not need to be necessarily associated with poverty. What has poverty got to do with littering? We are allowing our people to throw litter anywhere and anyhow. We need to teach ourselves and our children not to litter. From the time they can pick things up, our children should be taught that it is their responsibility to keep Zambia clean and beautiful. To keep our cities and towns clean, we will have to adopt innovative ways of using local communities for solid waste collection and removal. There should not be any piece of paper or plastic bag blowing around anywhere. We have been carelessly throwing litter all over the place. Bus operators are allowing their passengers to throw litter on the road or roadside through their windows without asking them: who is going to pick up that garbage that you are emptying on the road or roadside? But it is not only bus passengers who are doing this. Many motorists are doing it too. Throwing litter on the roads through the window is not only a danger to the environment but also threatens the lives of other road users. Empty canes and bottles thrown through the windows of cars can damage other vehicles on the road and injure those travelling in them. It can actually cause serious road accidents. Every few kilometres after you leave a city or town you will find a lot of garbage thrown by the roadside. Usually this is packaging materials for the food and drinks bought at the last stop. Even if our city or town councils had the capacity to clean and pick up all litter, this would be overstretching their responsibilities. The plastic wrapping materials and bottles we are throwing around do not decompose. They will be there for a very long time if no one picks them up. Even the litter that decomposes still poses a danger because it releases poisonous gases which can lower the quality of the air we breathe, leading to many diseases like asthma, which lower the quality of life. The environment we are littering and destroying can be a learning environment for children and future generations. If we just litter all around the place, we will never be able to regain what we have lost. We have also been rapidly destroying the Ozone layer of the earth with the wanton emissions of fossil fuels and other pollutants. With the continuation of this destruction, we will be exposed to deadly UV rays from the sun and solar flares, which will lead to the death of the planet. We therefore need to take urgent measures to dispose all litter in a responsible way instead of throwing garbage all over or everywhere instead of always using the bin. We agree with deputy minister Banda that, “the time for change is now”. “Therefore, the time to address these problems is now. It is also gratifying to note that despite many challenges the city has gone through over the years, efforts are being made to address these challenges. This is evident through the many projects the government has initiated such as construction of roads and drainages in many parts of the city,” says Banda. But all these projects of constructing roads and drainages will not in themselves result in a much cleaner environment. These drainages will soon be clogged with plastics and other garbage if no measures are taken to ensure that littering stops. When the rains come, drainages are blocked by garbage that has either been dumped there or washed there by the rains. This causes damage not only to the roads but also to other infrastructure that gets submerged in water due to flooding resulting from blocked drainages. Given the devastating effects of littering, the need to urgently come up with more efficient, effective and orderly ways cannot be overstressed. It is possible to have clean cities and towns in Zambia. But great effort is needed to make that a reality because many Zambians have become accustomed to living with dirt and in dirty environments. They don’t seem to see anything wrong with it. It is something they seem to have accepted as an inevitable part of their lives. This attitude needs to change. But it will take time to change people’s attitudes. And by the time the attitudes are changed, the damage to our environment may be too great to correct. This means that we have to combine sensitisation of the communities on garbage disposal with a strict enforcement of the laws that have been put in place to keep our cities and towns clean. For instance, the city of Lusaka came up with very good legislation on garbage disposal in 2004, which is not being enforced. There is need to as far as possible enforce these laws. Why make laws that we are not ready to enforce?
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:27:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015