Lusaka City Council (LCC) has said that it is doing everything possible to lessen the problem of floods in the city.
Council Assistant Public Relations Manager Mulunda Habeenzu said the Council is working to ensure that Lusaka has a proper drainage system.
Mr. Habeenzu told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the local authority understands and knows that a blocked drainage system is the root cause of floods in some areas of Lusaka.
The Council Assistant Public Relations Manager said the Council is doing everything possible to maintain and unblock drainages but that members of the public have continued to throw garbage in the drainage systems hence blocking the drainages.
Mr. Habeenzu said the indiscriminate throwing of garbage has made it difficult for the Council to maintain drainages.
He said members of the public should learn to dispose off garbage in designated areas and not in the drainages if the situation is to be arrested.
Mr. Habeenzu further called on members of the public to supplement the local authority’s efforts of unblocking drainages in the city by supporting the program in their respective areas.
Mr. Habeenzu however pointed out that the Council will not hesitate to deal with people found throwing rubbish in drainages.
He also thanked some communities in the city who have taken the initiative to mobilize themselves in supplementing the local authority’s efforts of unblocking drainages in their areas.
With the onset of the rains some areas in Lusaka have already started experiencing floods with some members of the public accusing the Lusaka City Council of allegedly failing to maintain and unblock drainages in the capital city.
Editor’s Note
Below is amateur video footage taken using a cellphone on 1/12/09 at 17:32 on Freedom way showing the poor drainage system in Lusaka.
Kulima Tower Enterprising boys took advantage of the situation and cashed in on the floods by transporting men on their backs across the pool of water while most women just braved through water.
Mr Assistant Public Relations manager, just get on with the job and stop talking. Don’t be too quick to blame the public for throwing gabbage all over the place when the council has failed for decades to provide rubbish bins and collection and disposal of rubbish yet residents and businesses pay heavily for these non existant services. The LCC must wake up from their slumber and start to deliver services to the community.
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has directed that Lusaka lawyer Dr Rodger Chongwe be paid approximately US $5.9 million as compensation for the 1997 Kabwe police shooting in which the latter and former Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda were injured
the post “The source said the minister of finance Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane was worried because he does not know where the ministry would get that kind of money.
“I can confirm that we have been informed that about US $5.9 million be sourced and paid to Dr Chongwe as compensation from the Zambian government over the 1997 Kabwe shooting in which he was injured with Dr Kaunda,” the source said. “But the question everyone here at the ministry is asking including the minister is, where will the government find that kind of money to pay Dr Chongwe alone? To be honest with you when you look at the numerous obligations the country has, there is no way we can proceed to pay that amount unless President Banda as usual leans on the minister of finance”
So, those chaps who sit in their comfortable offfices at city/town Halls/councils-what are they paid for? Those floods are as old as Zambia. But the only time calling Lusaka a city was making sense was when MICHAEL CHILUFYA SATA was governor. Politics aside-SATA wouldn’t have allowed such incidents to happen and continue happening. I wonder-why can’t Zambians plan and implement their plans, and along side those plans, why can’t we also have contingent plans to counter negative circumstances? Every time I visit Gaborone they are seriously, constructing underground drainages alongside their international standards roads. So, as London has network systems of power (electricity, gas, underground tube/train, water, etc) Gaborone has a very powerful underground drainage system amongst many…
Dr Chongwe could not be reached for a comment, as he was reportedly out of the country.
During last year’s presidential by-election, PF leader Michael Sata said Dr Chongwe was supporting Rupiah Banda’s candidature on tribal grounds.
“Comrade Rodger Chongwe is trying to use tribalism thinking that if he comes in the open to support Rupiah Banda and when Rupiah Banda is elected, he is going to get his (Chongwe’s) US $2.5 million but that should not be our preoccupation,” said Sata.
He said former president Frederick Chiluba and president Mwanawasa refused to pay Dr Chongwe the US $2.5 million, which he claimed from the government after being shot in Kabwe on grounds that the judgment was obtained in a foreign country and the Zambian government had not been given an…
…other excellent underground systems they have implemented. Just a reminder-Zambia used to have one of the best sewrage systems in the world. Go there today. Its a sorry story. Those expensive systems to implement but cheap and hiegynic to have in place are mostly no longer there.
…Now, most of human excreter (or .sh.it.) is just directed into our previously clean rivers. Hence, this with many other short-comings are cumminating into cholera, and other dirty-related illnesses.
Nice upgrade LT.Those videos are interesting.note how its only men being carried on the backs of the Kaponyas.where is LCC
you only talk of dranage when it floods when the rain goes you forget. lusaka floods every year but will it work this year, since Kaunda days nothing has been done concernig those water gallies
Great upgrade LT! Loving the new site!
Yep, the site has been upgraded to the next higher level. I also like the idea of backing your stories with a video footage, makes it even more interesting than before. Good work LT!
As for the rains in Lusaka, I can only say I cant remember seeing such floods when I was growing up there or maybe the drainage system was better then? Idont know. Anyway, LCC have no excuse this time because they have more than 9 months in which to prepare for such natural disaster since it only rains 2 – 3 months in Zambia.
Mwiponta Mukabwela, what is the point of copying and pasting prose from The Post? You can refer people to the article without wasting space on here.
This is serious with so many years of independence the country has got not even proper drainage in the capital city sure. I wonder how many people will get sick after stepping in that dirty water with human waste and animal waste fllowing from all ramshackle compounds of lusaka.
#12 wisi boyi i did not paste it for you, i pasted for pipo who have stopped reading the post newspaper. so if you dont like just see and remain quiet.
How about garbage containers for people to put their garbage in, so it is easier to collect for the city too.
Also, does Lusaka still have upstream water catchment areas, so water is released more slowly and floods can be prevented? Is deforestation an issue, because forests absorb a lot of rainfall.
#12 wisi boyi, I appreciate what #5 did. Don’t waste your time reading something that does not interest you. Just skip it and keep quiet. In fact you are the one who has wasted space on the blog by comment against #5 with thinking that one man’s poison is another’s meat.
#15. How often do you visit Zambia, or when were you last in Zambia? Zambia’s forest are finishing at a rate you have never witnessed before. If you are like me (who’s concerned about our natural resources) you be shocked. Nobody seems to care. The main culprit of this deforestation is charcoal burning. But, charcoal burning for domestic fuel is unnecessary, because Zambia has abundant coal that can be used for domestic fuel-cooking and heating. And coal is in many ways better than charcoal.
LT. Let me also jump on the bandwagon to congratulate you for the gradual but good improvements you are making to this blog site. As #11 has already mentioned, the video idea is cool and one can only hope that you will be consistent and broadbased.
#14, you reasoning makes sense, NOT! Cutting and pasting from The Post onto here is still reading The Post. And #16, you are the one that needs to shut it because I was not referring to you. Anyway, this is a side issue which has no bearing on the story so whatever.
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# 15, the problem in Lusaka is actually that the drop inlets are not collecting flood water and the chief reason for that is that they are clogged. So, LCC is right, no matter how well engineered these things are, their weakness lies in the fact that they have to be kept unclogged. And until Zambians learn not to use the street as a garbage dump, this will keep happening. Ofcourse, the other side of this maybe that, in addition to the clogging, they maybe under designed and if that is the case, fixing the garbage problem will not make this problem go away completely.
#17 coal is better than charcoal but charcoal is comparatively cheaper and easier to obtain.Anyhow,coming to the subject at hand,there is poor drainage in lusaka because of ubusali(poor sanitation) and lack of commitment by the local council.