Minister of Local Government Hon Vincent Mwale has stated that effecting a full ban on bars like had been done to churches from congregating both in the epicentre of the cholera epidemic as well as other areas would have had a negative impact on the economy, hence the decision to allow bars operate between 11 and 19 hrs.
Mr Mwale clarified that they have not banned prayer and that what had been banned was congregating. The Minister has encouraged all citizens to pray from their homes or whichever place they found comfortable as individuals. He stated that the nation needed prayers now more than ever before.
“We need Gods strength, comfort and grace as we fight this epidemic. Every Zambian’s life counts. Together, We can fight Cholera.” said the Minister.
The Minister has also announced that they have allowed controlled selling of vegetables and fruits in order to ensure farmers with hundreds of boxes of ready to sale tomatoes, cabbages and other perishables do not completely loose out due to their produce rotting for lack of markets.
“We have allowed bars in some areas to open from 11hrs to 19hrs, based on a belief that is anchored on keeping the wheels of the economy running while intensifying inspections to ensure hygiene standards are upped or at least maintained. We take cognisance of the fact that manufactures, distributors and retailers all have financial obligations such as rentals and taxes to meet even at a time like this. “Said the Minister.
“We are definitely not in any way going to compromise the health of our Citizens even as we try to ensure their economic safety, ” he added.
And Hon. Mwale has revealed that the decisions would be reviewed after 7 days and if within that period the epidemic spiralled out of control, a complete ban would then be effected.
“Should the epidemic spin out of control, we will definitely impose a complete ban and preserve our Citizens’ precious lives at all costs, ” he said.
“We have intensified inspections to ensure hygiene standards are upped or maintained. In the event that the standards are found to be compromised, we will effect a full ban so as not to compromise the health of our Citizens,” he added
Meanwhile, the Kabwe Municipal Council in Central Province has closed all restaurants and drinking places in 14 cholera prone areas in the district.
This is according to a public notice distributed to concerned proprietors in affected areas and obtained by ZANIS in Kabwe.
The notice, signed by acting Town Clerk, Paul Mukuka, says the move is aimed at protecting the health of the general public and all bars and restaurants in the affected areas are closed with immediate effect.
The notice stresses that there is an outbreak of cholera in Kabwe which has since affected a number of areas, especially low income residential locations.
The notice advises that the disease is caused by poor hygiene conditions and public gatherings which promote its spread.
The cholera prone areas, whose drinking and eating places have been closed, include Katondo, Makululu, Kawama, Kamakuti, C-Gate and Abdu.
Others are Nakoli, Shamabanse, Kamushanga, Makwati and Mukobeko with the rest being Waya, Kaputula and Natuseko compounds.
The Kabwe Municipality will only open individual eating and drinking places upon certification that their premises have improved their sanitation and hygiene conditions suitable for their prescribed services.
Central Province has not been spared by the cholera epidemic which broke out in Lusaka in the month of October, last year and spread to many part of the country.
So far, in Central Province, the disease has spread to Kabwe, Chibombo, Itezhi tezhi, Kapiri, and Mumbwa districts.
However, the disease has been contained in any districts with only Kabwe, Mumbwa and Itezhi tezhi having between one and six cases only under treatment.
The move to contain the spread of the disease is attributed to high preventive measures the provincial epidemic preparedness and control committee has put in place.
The measures include banning of street vending, massive cleaning of trading places and markets, distribution of chlorine to households, mass sensitisation of the epidemic and now closure of eating and drinking places in cholera prone areas in Kabwe district.
…But keeping bars open will lead to more Cholera infections which will also have larger impact on our economy as one can see from the huge expenditure on medicines, allowances being paid to those soldiers and health workers, restaurants being closed, the sick people being unproductive, etc. etc.
Mwale is right
Thanks
BB2014,2016
It’s true that character is revealed in a crisis because Mwale looked so intelligent in other Ministries or in Local Government without cholera.
This mwaiche Vincent is supposed to be ministry of football,,,not ku local government
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is hefty. Prevention would have been cheaper.
The thinking by this minister is completely warped. He is saying if the govt could extract tax from the tithes then churches could congregate.
Spoken like a drunkard. Fire this i.d.ot Mwale. Zambia’s Economy does not run on Alcohol. If all the people die of Cholera which economy will there be. Fulwe iwe!
Really languable….what response would you expect from Lazy Lungu and his dumb bells!!
I am surprised that we have abandoned God in preference for money. Trust me I understand and agree that we curtail gatherings including church, but thinking bars will contribute to the economic well being over God, sounds like a country that’s not Christian. I always knew that PF were using church for personal gain. Here we are: you shall know them by their fruit. Character is tasted and revealed in adversity.
Seriously! I thought this Mwale thing is intelligent kansi is a goon just like his name….
Zambia is a CHAKOLWA NATION or now a CHOLERA NATION.
I told you to vote wisely, but you called me names.
TASILA is busy stealing mukula trees & building mansions whilst you drink your own FAECES (MAT.UVI) due to lack of jobs & lack of sanitation.
And we are called a christian nation!
Lets do away with prayers and lets drink….Hahahaha. I cant understand the logic of our leader.
…so are we going to pray for our treasury to be filled miraculously??? The beer chain starts with ZB and other manufacturers who contribute heavily to our coffers. Distributors also contribute significantly. How about the many hotels, lodges, bars etc who also contribute??? So use your head to analyse this matter not your emotions…
so its economy over God! you cant solve a problem leaving out God in it. and you think beer will solve the problem of the nation
God is not church!!! Even a small gathering with your neighbours with genuine prayer is still prayer.
There goes confusion!
totally illogical thinking.
Just accept that if you close the bars, where are the chakolwas in PF going to drink their stolen loot? A gathering is a gathering whether in a bar or church, what is the difference? Are you saying people drinking beer cannot get cholera or what? You my friend and that fake doctor have failed. If it were in developed nations you would have resigned by now. Now you have extended your filth hand to toll gates takings in the name of fighting cholera. Soon we will hear that millions of dollars were spent to contain this pandemic that you brought by your reckless buying of fire trucks. Imagine if that money was used for water reticulation and cleaning of Lusaka. Ukutemwa umwambuko.
Too shallow like the many shallow wells they allowed to flourish in these compound… #cholera
Is this the same ka mwale who was fast protecting 42/42 the same minister whos ministry cleaniness of lusaka falls under ???
Someone must be sacked , over 50 people have died and no one in PF government is responsible for ensuring sanity in building pit latrines anyhow and no one is responsible for cleaning Lusaka…
All the corrupt theif lungu and his GRZ think of is tenders…..no accountability what so ever…….no takes any responsibility for anything under this lungu….
How did we end with such empty tins as ministers…mere cowboys..really laughable!!
If only this can teach us to give our politicians a good run for their money. In the past, we have allowed them to sleep and get away with it. And yet the power is in our hands, we the electorate! We are ultimately the boss and the CEO.
Our tendency, instead, has been to idolize and worship them. For that reason, they have always taken us for granted. We are too naive and too over-trusting of their intentions. We must learn to make noise when things go wrong. We must learn to shout and scream.
And this all boils down to knowing what our rights are, as citizens. For the most part, we are ignorant. That is the major reason for our timidity, indolence, and permissiveness.
Someone must have to remind us that it was on October 24, 1964, that Zambia got independent. And that we have been independent since then. We seem oblivious to this reality. We live and behave as though still under the yoke of colonialism.
For that prestigious title, “Party Cadre,” which entitle us to the bones falling from their tables, though giving us less of an exclusive right to the same; for that, we are willing to kill or get killed, protecting the rights of our new masters, the new colonialists; and for that we are willing to become their dogs, barking all the time, to keep their political enemies at bay, while ensuring their exclusive and peaceful enjoyment of the luxuries their new social status has so generously accorded them. We wash their cars, clean their toilets… what else don’t we do for them? That is us.
Is it just me who thinks some ‘people of God’ have lost their ability to reason..If everything with your brain is alright, you will realize it is a wise decision by the government…We need money and unfortunately the church does not share its money with everything…We cannot run a country based on emotions….
Let the church pay taxes. We’v seen the lavish items the leaders spend on while the congregants wallow in abject poverty and cholera prone lifestyles caused by poverty.
Churches do not pay tax even on shipping anywhere hence the reason why they are buying aircrafts and mansions…in some churches they even have atm machines for their docile masses!!
Mr Mwale has opened a pandora’s box. Churesches also pay tax and are affected by this action for example our church run a school and due to closure we now have to find money to pay their January salalry and ZRA Pay as you earn NAPSA etc. The bars should have been allowed only to sell take aways for people to go and drink in their homes.
What bar do you go to that allows take away? Really laughable… Not everyone drinks at a bottle store in Chawama.
Kaputula? Now that’s a bar I’d like to drink from!
Your computer keyboards got more germs than you thing ka! Pali filth bad!
hmm Christian nation indeed! Where are the Christains for the jubilee Lungu who has since stopped going to church. Zambians are so gullible, Jameson was hiding behind the Christianity mask yet he has chosen to spare the bars and not the church
So it’s all about the money. Safety trumps everything, including money. The sanitation at these bars is worse than the sanitation at churches. A drank is bound to behave and act irresponsibly than a church going person. Most people contract HIV when they are drank because their judgment is impaired. And no food is consumed at church, rarely water and few use bathrooms at church. And you could screen and test them as they come in, order them not to shake hands.
These guys don’t know how to contain an outbreak. Their decision making so far has been irrational and irresponsible. Sending cops and soldiers to harass and beat up worshippers is illegal.
In fact I believe the pastor’s argument of using churches to educate and sensitize people has some merit. Most Zambians are naive and…
(Continue reading…)
Most Zambians are naive and gullible and would rather listen to a pastor more so than a medical doctor. And definitely you could mobilize worshippers to fight the outbreak.
How embarrassing this is to the world!
From the Church
All church mother bodies have observed and declared that there is no peace in zambia due to corruption and other injustices.
“Despite the public pronouncements that Zambia is a peaceful country, the reality on the ground is different due to many acts of injustice, a growing culture of corruption, incidences of violence and utterances out of deep• seated hatred,” reads part of the statement issued today.
The Church mother bodies further said:
‘We therefore earnestly appeal to all our political leaders to stop insulting each other or anyone who does not agree with their political opinion and start genuinely to respect fellow political players as legitimate opponents with their constitutional right to hold their political opinion and to propagate it among the…
The difference between church and bar are that one can pray without going to church but cannot buy beer from own house. Beer attracts tax where as church demands for tax relief. Church admits under age (babies inclusive) and bars admit only adults or mature people who can analyse situations and choose to or not go to the bar. WHATS YOUR SAY ON THIS?(Please no insulting language)
The reason why the President appoints people in positions of governance is to ensure that all cylinders of Government are firing at optimal levels.
It’s true every society isn’t ideal and it shall never be that’s why at any given time, those that are considered appropriate are either elected or appointed to overcome the real world problems.
My advise to my PF Government is this, where have the basic fundamentals gone such that we stop being reactive but proactive? Remember that we warned our PF party that let’s not pay too much attention to the political rhetoric of HH and UPND that distracted us the entire 2017. It was their strategy to distract the PF from performing. Surely, did it we need cholera to realise that people in most Ministries had gone to sleep and weren’t working?…
Unfortunately kind of thinking. But no surprise from an adminstration led by a heavy drinker.
To be sincere, it is now known that we should not expect coherence and logic from this PF administration. No offense intended. I’m just stating evidence-based observations.
I m not surprised to hear that from Vincent Mwale, he runs East point.
I locked up my family shop on a market, because it clearly was not up to standard, but the bar lady, the Market Association President, forced herself back in it even with warning that Health and Safety standards had failed on the premises.
That’s a Market Association President abusing the law with the help of City council and the local police who gave her a bar Licence and police clearance to renter even with my warning on the state of the restrooms and safety. Now look…. We need tough action on premises that serve citizens in markets.
Though Zambia is a christian nation,but most ZAMBIANS are not christians but marely Church showers.
In fact closing bars for a year would improve the economy. Sober minds work harder. Hard earned cash would be spent on a wide range of goods, services and family investments. This minister is in dunderhead regions mwe. kikikiki
Iwe, closing bars for a year!!!!! you want people to resort to illicit activities? Did you know that some of the biggest suppliers of Marijuana resin (Hashish) are Arab countries where alcohol consumption is highly restricted???
Putting aside Mwale’s warped thinking, with the current cholera epidemic, it is actually safer to drink beer than piped water or that from the wells. When there was a major outbreak of cholera in 1854 in London and no one could discern the source, a physician called John Snow was able to work out that it was mostly people who had been drinking water from the common pump, which was eventually linked to sewer from the river, that were victims. People had consistently earlier believed cholera was caught from the air. People who spent all day drinking beer from the local brewery were not affected.
So in short we are just saying it does matter if people get infected while drinking as long as money is coming in for bakoswe mumpoto to steal. Typical of greedy uncaring thieves. And to just think that people would comment supporting this move really puts a question mark on the thinking capacity of some people.
And when October 18 comes u should go meet at the bars for a National Day of esteem ing beer over prayer. U think u can mock God? Your deception will catch up with you
M0r0n, the country needs a strategy to eradicate this Cholera issue for good. Close churches, bars…put a blanket over all forms of congregations apart from funerals that should have some sort of control on gatherings. The country does not need prayer, it bl00dy needs common sense and leader ship!
Actually Beer is a tool for massive docility . Church goers are more health conscious than drunkards who may even urinate & defacate carelessly. Beer is sold even in Supermarkets so the excuse that one cannot buy take away is ultra vires. Even Chibuku ya mu ma drums was bought as take away & drunk at home. A Paradigm shift & Logical Mindset is pertinent. Bushe impashi nga sha ingila mu nganda, mwalashifumya Shani? Wisdom is better than artificial intelligence.
New Latrines should be built as Cemented reservoirs which can be “sucked” out once full. This, even as a Temporarly measure should prevent underground contamination of water. The actual toilet should be built besides & not on top. This would also avoid the dangers of ichimbusu cha dilika & and has caused the death of someone. The tanks can be serviced by Local authorities or owners who can afford. As a temporal measure. The long term measure is a articulated Sewer System. Cha Musebanya sana ati, we are drinking our own product, in this time & space. When did Abasungu eradicate Bubonic Plague?
Sorry! Reticulated Sewer System. Let’s not just sing about .s.hi.tttt, let’s clean it up. Permanently. All entry points can have Soap & disinfected water to wash our hands.
Zambia’s economy runs on alcohol. but look at the effect on our young people.
Whatever the substance the minister is taking is not good for his reasoning. Honestly how many bars have clean WASH rooms? Anyway I may be expecting too much from some of these people.
Come on Vincent you are an intelligent young man, don’t disappoint us. Does the Zambian economy revolve around alcohol? Oh please! It is not like the Mines have closed. It is not like indeni has shut down and fuel tankers have stopped transporting fuel. It is not like farmers are hoarding their maize.
I think they should just shut down Humpty Dumpty empty tribal party of Under Fives!
Did under fives create f*ck-up in our lives by making decisions leading to the epidemics?
Can the Hon. Minister clarify if the Republic of Zambia is still “Christian” Nation or it has been changed to “Drunkards” Nation?