Maravi

L/stone call boys urinate against poor sanitation

L/stone call boys urinate against poor sanitation
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Tue 05 June 2012, 13:23 CAT

CALL boys at Livingstone's main local commuter station yesterday urinated publicly in protest against poor sanitation during a visit by the parliamentary committee on local government led by Eustarkio Kazonga.

The incident happened when the committee members visited the bus station to familiarise themselves with the challenges being faced by the Livingstone City Council in terms of sanitation.

The call boys approached ZNBC cameraman Elias Hakatombwe and led him to a caravan situated next to a makeshift restaurant commonly known as Savage Restaurant and openly urinated.

"We want to show you how we go about our daily lives. This is our only toilet and behind this caravan is a restaurant," said one call boy as he and others urinated.

Later the committee bypassed the caravan and the call boys shouted while pointing at the heaps of garbage and their makeshift 'toilets'.

The area around the caravan had a strong stench of urine.

Three other boys simulated urinating as Kazonga, who is former local government minister, hurriedly walked on.

One of the members of parliament was overhead joking to a female National Assembly member of staff that they would have lunch at the Savage Restaurant.

Earlier, a minibus driver Lloyd Nyambe pushed his way through the councillors who accompanied Kazonga to brief him on the bad state of the station.

"We need this ground to be worked on as it is very bad during the time of rains as we don't have shelters," Nyambe said.

In response, Kazonga said he was happy for his decision to speak out as opposed to being quiet.

"The council management is here with the town clerk and the mayor and they are listening. We want this place to be a decent one with toilets and running water," said Kazonga.

And when he visited the council's public toilet at the taxi rank near Shalom bus station, Kazonga was briefed by a taxi driver Victor Mwengwe who operates the Kazungula-Livingstone route, that the public toilet closed at 17:00 hours and requested that it be a 24 hour facility.

Labels: EUSTARKIO KAZONGA, LIVINGSTONE

posted by MrK @ 2:05 PM