By CHUSA SICHONE –
LOCAL Government Minister Vincent Mwale has implored residents in areas affected by cholera to cooperate with the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) as it creates points for safe and cleaning drinking water.
This follows concerns by the LWSC that some residents in areas like Garden and Chaisa townships have been denying the water utility company space meant for clean and safe drinking water points.
Mr Mwale said that communities and their local leaders needed to support the Government’s initiatives aimed at combating cholera if the ‘crisis’ was to be addressed.
Mr Mwale said this when he and Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya visited Garden Township in Lusaka on Thursday.
“We want members of the community to partner with us. This is a crisis that all of us have to work towards eliminating, so we expect that members of the community will allow Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company to provide space for them to provide clean water,” he said.
Mr Mwale challenged members of Parliament and councillors to use their ‘political language’ to convince residents who were trying to frustrate the Government’s cholera response efforts.
Mr Mwale said people who were resistant towards the LWSC should understand that safe and clean drinking water was crucial in eliminating cholera.
Dr Chilufya said there was need to respond to a crisis like cholera with utmost speed and so he did not expect the LWSC to work at a moribund pace.
Dr Chilufya said that the Government was spending colossal sums of money on cholera response and ordered the LWSC to up its efforts by increasing the manpower and extending its working hours.