Lungu promises to clean up Lusaka

WE WILL have to come up with draconian measures to ensure that we bring sanity in our trading areas which may include eradicating and removing some people from their trading places forever, President Edgar Lungu has said.

And President Lungu has blasted Lusaka mayor Wilson Kalumba and his team for failing to bring about proper sanitary conditions in the city as they were literally sleeping on duty.

Speaking in Lusaka yesterday when he toured the central business district, Mr Lungu said hard decisions would have to be made to remove some traders permanently and remove unplanned structures without offering compensation which would bring about proper drainage systems.

He said his heart bleeds with what he had seen but that the decisive action to follow would bring about better sanitary conditions.

The Head of State said it cannot be business as usual and prodded the Lusaka City Council to take a bold step sand ensure citizens acquired the right facilities for disposal of human waste.

“We have to take serious measures. We want to know where the local authority, the mayor and the team. They have been around for a year now. We elected them in 2016, they should have taken up and done something about it.

“We must take draconian measures to ensure that we bring the situation to sanity and hard decisions will have to be made obvious we will have to eradicate and remove some people form their trading areas forever,” he said.

The President said both the minister of health and Local Government needed to own up as they had gone to sleep by allowing unplanned devices and structures spreading throughout with no proper drainage and that sadly so human waste was all over.

Mr Lungu said it was imperative to agree with the relevant ministries to remove unplanned structures, reclaim the drainage system and ensure that going forward plan for the future.

He said Government had been spending colossal sums of money in trying to bring modern markets but that has been overcome and overwhelmed by unplanned structures.

President Lungu expressed hope that hope work would be done according to schedule and asked those affected to bear with Government.