City Councils in Malawi Advised to Embrace Cleaning and Greening
Local government official advises city councils to clean and green cities.
Salima, Malawi: The Director of Local Government Services in the Ministry of Local Government, Unity, and Culture, Douglas Mkweta, has advised city councils in Malawi to embrace cleaning and greening the environment in their cities, writes Moses Nyirenda.
Speaking on the sidelines of the second cities’ caucus conference, organised by the Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA) on Tuesday in Salima, Mkweta said that city councils in the country should focus on cleaning and greening.
"It has been noted that in the clean-up campaigns, the whole Civic Office moves to a central place where they have decided to do the clean-up, and they put much focus on cleaning rather than greening," Mkweta said.
"However, cleaning and greening are the things that have to go hand in hand."
Mkweta also said that the councils should also put initiatives in place to promote the cleaning of rivers, forests, and homes, rather than only roadsides.
He also appealed to other stakeholders, including civil society and private sector organisations, to assist in the work of cleaning and greening the cities in the country.
"The work of cleaning and greening the cities should not be done by public officers only, but it should be extended to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Private Sector organisations, and academia," Mkweta said.
"Every one of us must ensure that we are keeping our areas clean but also green, hence, we have to plant ornamental crops, clean the drains, and clean our spaces."
In a separate interview, the mayor of Lilongwe City, Councillor Richard Banda, who attended the city’s caucus conference, said that Lilongwe City Council is making efforts to clean and green Lilongwe City.
"After we did the cities summit, we engaged the Director of Health Education in the implementation of the clean-up exercises," Banda said.
"Our stuff is already on the ground doing these exercises. You can go into town, and you will see them removing the garbage and also collecting the bins on time. On the part of greening, our Director of Parks is also working together with other partners in the greening campaign."
The second cities’ caucus conference attracted officials from the country's city councils and the private sector, among others.
Self respect at a personal, family, neighbourhood, council, constituency, district, provincial and national level should make this seem obvious. However people think it is someone else's responsibility so have to be shamed or forced into it.