Mayor prods church

By MUYANI SHINJABALE LUANSHYA Mayor Nathan Chanda has called on the church to be vigilant, proactive and take centre stage in the quest to transform society for the better.

Mr. Chanda noted that spiritual leaders played a crucial role in the development of any town and the entire nation.

In a statement released to the Daily Nation by Luanshya Municipal Council (LMC) public relations office, Mr Chanda said the council regarded the church as social partners that would help the town meet its spiritual and developmental needs through concerted efforts.

“The local authority is restrategizing to see to it that as many stakeholders as possible partner with its efforts to broaden the revenue generation capacity as the demands for service delivery among residents continue to increase,” he said.

During a District Pastors / Ministries Fellowship meeting held at Word Centre Apostolic Church in Luanshya, Mr. Chanda also noted that LMC was owed over K25 million in unremitted property, land rates and plot premiums by commercial entities and residents. He said this had negatively affected LMC’s operations in terms of service delivery.

He was however hopeful that measures the council had put in place, like the introduction of rebates on rate payers who made lump sum payments on outstanding arrears, would expedite its quest to recover the monies it was owed.

“Through your prayers and support we are now hopeful that Baluba Mine, which is currently under care and maintenance will open in the near future. We should not under estimate the power of prayers,” he said.

Mr Chanda appealed to the pastors to take centre stage in the Clean Luanshya Campaign and to encourage their followers to keep their surroundings clean to avoid disease outbreaks.

“We need total mindset change and we need to be positive towards the way we live and do things. We need to help my fellow youths to think outside the box because they are future leaders,” he said.

And District Pastors Fellowship chairperson Aaron Mwale thanked Mr. Chanda for continuing to engage the church as partners in development.