By Revelation Editor
There was an interesting incident that happened this week during Lusaka mayor Chitambala Mwewa’s tour of the Central Business District, under an operation he has termed as Operation Clear Path.
The operation by Chitambala is aimed at restoring order and sanity especially around the Lusaka Central Business District, by removing street vendors so that they can trade in designated areas, including removing all illegal structures, and for buses to operate in designated bus stations, away from the chaos where they have been operating wherever they wish, resulting in them closing important roads and pathways around the city centre.
And so it happened that as Mwewa was going about his usual walks around the CBD in an effort to restore order, a group of ruling UPND cadres approached him around Katondo street in the CBD.
As Mwewa was about to exit the Lusaka Main Library, the cadres approached him and told him that there was a ‘concern’. But Mwewa told them that he could not engage them as they were on camera and that he would follow them later at their ‘illegal Muzaleka’bus station at 09hours. But as soon as he had dismissed them or “deflected them”, in his own words, Mwewa turned to the camera and said that there was no way he was going to honour that meeting as he understood perfectly what their “concern” was.
He accused them of operating an illegal bus station called Muzaleka, just outside the City Market, and that they were resisting to be relocated to operate inside the market as they wanted to persist with their own illegalities.
While Chitambala is receiving overwhelming support and praises from a significant chunk of the population over his drive to clean Lusaka, there are others who are clearly not happy with what he is doing. Those who have been living off the streets and on illegalities are clearly not happy with him. They are not happy because apart from them just operating those illegal places and offices, they also live off those illegalities financially. They are masters in their own rights as people pay to them to operate around the spaces they control. Even the vendors who trade from the streets are said to pay up to some ‘master’, who happens to be a ruling party member, to operate around the spaces they operate from.
There are already complaints emerging from the streets that Chitambala’s activities are having a negative effect on their business activities and impacting their incomes. They are warning that the ruling party would suffer will and reap negative rewards from the noble activities Chitambala is engaged in.
Of course, the ruling UPND has come out and categorically stated that they are in support of what the mayor is doing. However, there is a famous saying that the test of the pudding is in the eating. From there the questions arise. Will the ruling party hold still to their word when the cadres on the streets start speaking? Will they support the mayor and police to take action against those who are resisting Chitambala’s and the council’s mandate to restore order? Because we are already receiving reports that the bus drivers aligned with the ruling party who are operating some illegal bus stations in the city are already resisting Chitambala and police’s moves to uproot them from their illegal premises. In case they continue resisting and the police is forced to use force, will the ruling party support such a police move?
It is our considered view that for the noble undertaking Chitambala has embarked on to be meaningful and successful, he will need the full support of especially the ruling party, not only in word but in resolve and action. This is not work that he can successfully do on his own. Otherwise, without the support from the ruling party, Chitambala will just be like the other mayors who watched as the CBD became more filthier because the opportunity cost of having a filthier city far outpaced the potential votes the ruling party would lose out if they restored sanity.
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By Revelation Editor
There was an interesting incident that happened this week during Lusaka mayor Chitambala Mwewa’s tour of the Central Business District, under an operation he has termed as Operation Clear Path.
The operation by Chitambala is aimed at restoring order and sanity especially around the Lusaka Central Business District, by removing street vendors so that they can trade in designated areas, including removing all illegal structures, and for buses to operate in designated bus stations, away from the chaos where they have been operating wherever they wish, resulting in them closing important roads and pathways around the city centre.
And so it happened that as Mwewa was going about his usual walks around the CBD in an effort to restore order, a group of ruling UPND cadres approached him around Katondo street in the CBD.
As Mwewa was about to exit the Lusaka Main Library, the cadres approached him and told him that there was a ‘concern’. But Mwewa told them that he could not engage them as they were on camera and that he would follow them later at their ‘illegal Muzaleka’bus station at 09hours. But as soon as he had dismissed them or “deflected them”, in his own words, Mwewa turned to the camera and said that there was no way he was going to honour that meeting as he understood perfectly what their “concern” was.
He accused them of operating an illegal bus station called Muzaleka, just outside the City Market, and that they were resisting to be relocated to operate inside the market as they wanted to persist with their own illegalities.
While Chitambala is receiving overwhelming support and praises from a significant chunk of the population over his drive to clean Lusaka, there are others who are clearly not happy with what he is doing. Those who have been living off the streets and on illegalities are clearly not happy with him. They are not happy because apart from them just operating those illegal places and offices, they also live off those illegalities financially. They are masters in their own rights as people pay to them to operate around the spaces they control. Even the vendors who trade from the streets are said to pay up to some ‘master’, who happens to be a ruling party member, to operate around the spaces they operate from.
There are already complaints emerging from the streets that Chitambala’s activities are having a negative effect on their business activities and impacting their incomes. They are warning that the ruling party would suffer will and reap negative rewards from the noble activities Chitambala is engaged in.
Of course, the ruling UPND has come out and categorically stated that they are in support of what the mayor is doing. However, there is a famous saying that the test of the pudding is in the eating. From there the questions arise. Will the ruling party hold still to their word when the cadres on the streets start speaking? Will they support the mayor and police to take action against those who are resisting Chitambala’s and the council’s mandate to restore order? Because we are already receiving reports that the bus drivers aligned with the ruling party who are operating some illegal bus stations in the city are already resisting Chitambala and police’s moves to uproot them from their illegal premises. In case they continue resisting and the police is forced to use force, will the ruling party support such a police move?
It is our considered view that for the noble undertaking Chitambala has embarked on to be meaningful and successful, he will need the full support of especially the ruling party, not only in word but in resolve and action. This is not work that he can successfully do on his own. Otherwise, without the support from the ruling party, Chitambala will just be like the other mayors who watched as the CBD became more filthier because the opportunity cost of having a filthier city far outpaced the potential votes the ruling party would lose out if they restored sanity.
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