By Isaac Zulu
Kapiri Mposhi Town Council has cleared over 800 tons of historic garbage from markets in the district to avert the outbreak of Cholera.
The garbage has been piling-up for over five months now in four major markets in the Central Business District (CBD) due to inadequate garbage collection equipment and transport at the Local authority.
Kapiri Mposhi Town Council Public relations officer, Chris Mulaliki said the garbage has been cleared using hired equipment to provide a safe and healthy environment in trading places in view of the cholera outbreak in the country.
Mulaliki disclosed that the council, through its Public Health department, has cleared garbage from New, Tambalale, Ndeke and Riverside markets and will soon extend the exercise to public and trading places across the district where garbage has been accumulating, but remain uncollected for some time.
He said currently, the council only relied on a tractor, which is not reliable at the moment, to collect and dispose of garbage from markets and public places across the district.
“Considering the cholera situation, the council hired equipment at a high cost to clear garbage from markets because the council does not have reliable transport to routinely collect garbage,” Mulaliki said.
He said the local authority intends to apply for funds under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to procure garbage collection equipment so that the council does not incur huge costs on hiring private equipment.
And Mulaliki has advised members of the public to desist from indiscriminate disposal of garbage and to uphold prescribed health measures to prevent Cholera.
He said the council working with the Ministry of Health has intensified inspections of premises selling foodstuffs and water sampling exercises in residential areas.
Kapiri Mposhi district has so far recorded five confirmed Cholera cases.
