By Merlyn Mwanza
Dr Charlotte Scott has disagreed with DMMU National Coordinator Dr Gabriel Pollen about coming up with short term solutions against urban floods, saying it is better to think about where the water will go than about how to block it.
And British High Commissioner to Zambia Nicholas Woolley has responded with a Bemba proverb to the image where the Sweden Ambassador to Zambia Johan Hallenborg was seen walking barefoot in flood waters after the surroundings of the café he had gone to became flooded following heavy downpour, stating “wibala Ingwe’na elyo amatako yali mu menshi.”
Dr Pollen posed the question on the short-term suggestions on urban flooding.
“Urban floods, what are some feasible short-term solutions? Much of what we see is due to unplanned and uncoordinated infrastructural development. For the short-term, however, I’ve come across things such as deploying simple yet effective temporal flood guards, defence systems,” tweeted Dr Pollen.
But responding, Dr Charlotte stated that the effective way would be to think long term.
“The water needs somewhere to go. Used to go to Marshlands. Now the flow is blocked and the marsh has been built on. Better think about where the water is going to go than about how to block it. Widely agreed that climate change may lead to more rain here. Need perm(anent) solution,” responded Dr Charlotte.
And Swedish Ambassador yesterday tweeted that his morning meeting at Mint Active turned out to be a very wet experience along with an image showing him walking in flood water, to which his British counterpart, High Commissioner Woolley responded “Wibala ing’wena elyo amatako yali mu menshi.”
Artist, B’Flow responded to High Commissioner Woolley’s tweet, stating “Chileshe wansekesha. Ala mwandepula kunseko. Your Bemba is impressive.”
Tourism minister Rodney Sikumba also chipped in.
“You need a Bemba name Your Excellency,” tweeted Sikumba.
