No funds for national clean-up campaign
M
inistry of Local Government, Unity and Culture has said despite government allocating K400 million in the 2023/24 National Budget for the National Clean-Up Campaign, the Treasury is yet to provide the funds.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary (PS) Esme Kainja said this on Wednesday when she and city and district council’ representatives appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change to give an update on waste management in cities and towns.
President Lazarus Chakwera launched the National Clean-Up Campaign in November 2020 to promote good hygienic practices by encouraging citizens to sweep and clean their homes, workplaces and other community surroundings every second Friday of the month.
suffocated the exercise
The PS said the delay in funding the initiative has suffocated efforts to procure equipment and refuse collection trucks.
Said Kainja: “This amount of money is huge enough for us to buy equipment and refuse collection vehicles. We are hoping that with the intervention of the members of Parliament, we will be funded as waste management is a very important issue since it touches on many health issues including cholera.”
She, however, hailed some councils including Mzuzu City Council that are engaging in various initiatives to mobilise resources for waste management.
Committee member Yona Adadawiza Mkandawire urged the councils to be innovative and find other means of generating income such as making compost manure.
He said: “We are going towards the rainy season and councils need to up their game so that at the end of the day, we do not face outbreaks such as cholera.”
Mkandawire further urged the Lilongwe City Council to expedite the proposed relocation of the Area 38 dumpsite, saying it is putting surrounding communities at risk of contracting communicable diseases.
Lilongwe City Council deputy director of health responsible for cleansing services Thokozani Mkaka said they are discussing the issues with various stakeholders, including the communities.
