Vacuum tanker ignites debate at council meet
Mangochi Town Council councillors last week spent more than one hour arguing over a proposal to use part of the 2018/19 budget to maintain the council’s vacuum tanker popularly known as chimpopa.
Making his presentation during a full council meeting, Msikisi Ward councillor Oliver Tayubu said the council spent K4.5 million to buy spare parts to repair the vehicle, but it broke down within a short space of time.
at the council offices
“My fellow councillors, secretariat and stakeholders, please hear me out. This vehicle we call chimpopa, let it not be maintained this time around.
“This vehicle is obsolete and has a lot of problems. If we continue maintaining it, it will consume the other money which could have been used on other development projects,” he said.
Tayubu advised the council to return the vehicle to central government instead of wasting money repairing it yet it does not bring returns.
He suggested that the council buys a three-tonner vehicle to be used for refuse collection.
But the council’s finance chairperson Asani Saimoni from Mkanamwano Ward quashed the suggestion, saying the council should maintain the vehicle to earn revenue.
Other councillors also joined in the debate, but the council’s chairperson, Ibrahim Kacheya, curtailed the argument by calling for a vote.
At the end of it all, those in favour of the vehicle to be fixed and seek a private partner to manage it carried the day. n
