By PASSY HAACHIZO –
THE Kabwe Municipal Council (KMC) has closed eight bars for operating in poor sanitary conditions.
The local authority has also buried one pit latrine in Katondo Township amidst an outbreak of cholera with so far seven cases of the disease recorded in Central Province.
Meanwhile, Kabwe Mayor Prince Chileshe has banned all the street vendors from operating in the central business district (CBD) with effect from today.
Mr Chileshe said closing down the bars and burying the pit latrine was just the beginning as more would be closed should owners fail to abide by necessary sanitary conditions as required by the law.
He also directed all business entities in Kabwe District to buy bins and put them in front of their doors by tomorrow, failure to which they would also be closed.
“I want to call for responsibility and promotion of personal hygiene among the people of Kabwe. I now want to direct all those running businesses to purchase bins by Friday and there are no negotiations on this,” Mr Chileshe said.
“Let us also advise you to abandon the traditional hand-shake as a way of greeting someone and to those with the habit of buying raw foodstuff, this is the time to dump those habits. If you are not feeling well, I urge you to rush to the nearest health centre for medical attention.”
Mr Chileshe said for the men and women in uniform to burry shallow wells, unblock drainage and clean the town, all the vendors must move into the markets today.
He said there was unoccupied space in the markets such as the Town Centre Market which had 400 stands and only 143 were occupied.
New Kasanda Market  has 1,200 stands with 400 occupied while at Njanji Market only 53 of the 229 have been taken up.
“At Pollen Market we have 60 stands and only 10 are occupied, at Kachulu Market we have 130 stands and only 60 are occupied,” Mr Chileshe said.
“Anyway going by statistics I have about 22 markets, so in short we have enough space where our vendors will be operating from, from tomorrow and there is no question about that.”