When one envisions an airport, the mind conjures up images of a place where aeroplane engines are roaring, promising an adventure in the sky.
One sees fine runways and taxiways and sleek buildings —the hangars, the control towers and the terminals— and well-manicured lawns. But, when one visits Mzuzu Airport—if it still deserves to be called an airport—which is tucked in the heart of Mzuzu City, the story that unfolds is different and perplexing.
Once upon a time, Mzuzu Airport was a symbol of connectivity and transportation, a symbol of a country rising on its wings to the heights of progress.
It was a nerve centre, more or less, for the region.
Today, the site is so dreary it looks like those movie airstrips for criminal purposes, a base inside a secluded bush for no other reason than transportation of contraband goods.
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To complement its neglect, it has now become a waste dumping site where all manner of non-descript rubbish are finding a final resting place.
For the record, planes still land at the airport, occasionally though.
President Lazarus Chakwera lands at the airport too, including in his most recent trip when he presided over a graduation at Mzuzu University.
On your visit, the place welcomes you with a pungent smell wafting from urine and rotten waste such as soiled diapers which are the most common waste dumped at the airport, alongside plastic papers and bottles.
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The airport has fallen victim to trespassing. Cyclists and those walking use it as a shortcut to connect to other areas of the city.
Strangely, despite all that is happening at the airport, officials don’t seem to care.
But the smell that reeks from the airport grounds worries citizens like Kingsley Kachingwe.
A resident of Chiwanja Township in the city, Kachingwe fears that the waste has potential of spreading airborne diseases and waterborne ones through seepage into the nearby Lunyangwa River.
He said there was a need for Mzuzu City Council (MCC) to start collecting waste that piles in locations because its laxity on this task is making people dump the waste at the airport instead.
“Some water and airborne diseases that are plaguing the country are as a result of such tendencies. Despite the people themselves having a responsibility of properly dumping waste, there is need for the officials to do something about the problem,” he said.
In 2016, the government announced plans to relocate Mzuzu Airport to another site. Year down the line, this is yet to happen. S
o the current airport is the one still in use.
In an interview, Ministry of Transport and Public Works spokesperson, Watson Maingo said the issue of waste disposal could better be handled by Mzuzu City Council (MCC).
He added that they are unable to prevent people from trespassing because the perimeter fence was vandalised and there is currently no project to fix it since government is moving on with the idea to construct a new airport at a new location.
MCC spokesperson MacDonald Gondwe said they are aware of the situation at the airport.
He said the council periodically conducts clean up exercises “much as they do not yield the intended results”.
Gondwe also admitted that they do not collect waste in locations but only in public facilities and they rely on private waste collectors to help fill the current gap.
“Currently we only focus on collecting waste in markets, hospitals, schools and other public facilities that are overcrowded and we are not yet into collecting waste in locations because we do not have the capacity to do so. But that is not an excuse for people to be littering any how because the laws stipulate that all residents should have rubbish pits,” he said.
According to Northern Region Police Publicist, Maurice Chapola, Mzuzu Airport has permanent police officers that man it just like all airports in the country.
Occasionally, police restrict movements in the airport and people go back to using the normal routes until the security loosens again.
For Maloto Chimkombero, an environmentalist, it is unfortunate that both residents and the council are not doing enough in terms of managing the airport.
He called on the council to engage the private waste collectors to start managing refuse at the airport.
“The airport is an important place that should be kept clean at all times because that is where tourists first reach when they get to Mzuzu through planes. But this situation makes the place unsafe and there is need for an urgent action,” he said.
