Friday, March 29, 2024

Public Health attributes dirt to lack of enforcement of law

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National Deputy Director of Public Health and Research, Fordson Nyirenda says lack of enforcement of the law results in accumulation of filth in most districts around the country.

Mr. Nyirenda said lack of enforcement of the Food and Drugs Act, the Public Health Act and the Trade Licensing Act among others, put consumers at risk of getting preventable diseases.

He bemoaned the current filthy status of most districts in the country which he said were a major contributing factor to poor health indicators considering the high prevalence rates of preventable diseases.

Mr. Nyirenda called for the resumption of regular medical examinations for all food handlers countrywide as provided for by the law after realizing that the number of defaulters was high in Livingstone and other districts.

Meanwhile, Livingstone Principal Resident Magistrate Davis Mumba called for a reduction in donor dependency in programs aimed at improving sanitation and uplifting the standard of living for Zambians.

Magistrate Mumba urged law enforcement officers to deal with people that were deliberately breaking the law with impunity like illegal retail traders.

He encouraged health inspectors in collaboration with other stakeholders to conduct regular inspections of public premises to ensure strict adherence to the law.

Magistrate Mumba said this today during the closure of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)-Legal Enforcement workshop at Woodlands Lodge in Livingstone.

The workshop was held from 4th -7th August with support from UNICEF and managed to close Murdochs Model Bakery, Maramba Confectionary and a number of bars, taverns and other trading places for operating under unsanitary conditions and for violating the law.

ZANIS

7 COMMENTS

  1. Law enforcements only deal with symptoms that may lead to an unhealth Nation and it is expensive. Changing the mindset from PreSchool to tertiary level is what is needed.

  2. True to Nyirenda’s word, politics of appeasement has destroyed the fabric of Zambian society and allowed lawlessness to reign in all spheres of life. In planning, Land allocation, Buildings, trading, Sanitation and Hygiene, etc.

    Some politician tried to enforce council by-laws where anybody found urinating in public were charged K10,000 but everybody rose against him bullying him into abandoning the initiative.

    Today, MMD cadres will set up illegal stalls anywhere and nobody will raise a finger. MMD cadres will beat up journalists, police will not act until told by their master. Some thieving officers will divert donor funds into their pockets, nobody will act until donors withdraw their aid. MMD cadres will allocate plots illegally, council has no power to stop them.

  3. Law enforcement will surely help. People should not be selling stuff in the streets. Anyway who am I to call for law enforcement; may be Zambians are just naturally dirty. If you cross the border into either Botswana or Namibia you will immediately see what see the contrast between hygienic Tswanas and Namibians on one hand and dirty Zambians on the other. Zambia is a heap of rubbish!

  4. WHO SHOULD WE TRUST WHEN DEC CAN ……

    MUVI TV STORY
    Home Affairs Minister, Lameck Mangani says Government is considering compensating a Lusaka Businessman whose sugar went missing whilst in custody at the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC). He says his Ministry is still looking at the judgment that was passed in favour of Nubious trading. And Mr. Mangani has warned that Government will ensure that everyone who was involved is brought to book. He was speaking to MUVI TV News in Lusaka today. Over 700 by 50 Kilogram bags of sugar worth more than 400 Million Kwacha went missing at the DEC.

  5. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Zambians ifiko, eye tata. Some homes, one can even fail to have a cup a water. Is it so difficult to see that a home is dirty? Even in government offices, look at the windows, the walls, the doors, the floor. I fail to understand how normal human being can survive under such circumstances. It’s true, “bushe mano ayachepa nangu ninkanda iyafita?” Every zambian should accept cleanliness as a responsibility.

  6. #1 Wrong No, I agree with you. Rather than focusing at the “end of pipe” we need to focus upstream. If pupils are taught good practices in things like fire safety, first aid, food and hygiene they would appreciate to an extent of not even buying tobomutwe being sold in an unhygienic manner or late alone even litter their surroundings. But also Mr Nyirenda is not being fair in the sense that at he has not provided enough trash cans and toliets where people can dispose off rubbish and answer the call of nature respectively. Moreso, at markets it may even take three weeks before garbage with billions of maggots is collected. In such a case what enforcement can he talk about?

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