Mzuzu councillors dump waste at director’s office
Councillors at Mzuzu City Council yesterday dumped waste at director’s office following the council’s failure to collect piles of garbage that has accumulated outside Mzuzu main market.
The council has, however, lamented the councillors’ actions describing them as unfortunate.
The counci lors – Lusubiro Mwangonde of Jombo Ward and Gabriel Mwangulu of Chibavi West-tricked the secretariat when they borrowed wheelbarrows only to return with loads of waste.
The two confirmed the incident, arguing they were only expressing their anger following the city’s failure to collect garbage.
With the onset of the rains, city refuse collection vehicles occasionally collect waste from the market, a development that has left stinking garbage uncollected at the refuse site.
This has resulted in fear of diarrhoea among people in the city.
“We first called the Chief Executive Officer, Mcloud Kadammanja, asking him about the skip carrier which collects the refuse. But he told us that there was no fuel for the vehicle.
“But to our surprise, we saw vehicles of directors at the council ferrying their children to and from schools in town. Where did they get fuel” Mwangulu wondered.
He said their aim was to let the directors appreciate the smell from the garbage and find solutions to clear the place.
“People are under threat of diarrhoea because of the council’s failure to prioritise the issue. How could we watch the heaps of garbage right at the entry of the city market decompose like that,” Mwangulu added.
However, Mzuzu City Council Public Relations Officer, Karen Msiska, said the councillors know the financial hiccups the council is passing through and how some of the services have been affected.
“We believe that every member of council is abreast with the goings-on around the council. The issue of delayed waste collection was a result of a problem at the current dumping site. The problem was rectified the same day and waste was collected.” Msiska said.
Contrary to Msiska’s claim, a visit to the site Thursday afternoon revealed the garbage was still at the market.
When asked, Msiska attributed the situation to the fact that council has only one skip carrier which is not able to collect waste from different points in the city at once.
He said the council has bought four new skip carriers, two of which are yet to start functioning.
However, Msiska said vendors should meet the council half way by remitting their market fees arguing the money sometimes is used to buy fuel for the skip carriers.
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