SOME villagers in Chief Ndubeni’s area in Mpongwe District on the Copperbelt Province have taken advantage of the flooded roads in the area by charging motorists K50, 000 to use the alternative routes they have created.
Mpongwe District Commissioner (DC) Miniver Mutesa confirmed that some people in Chief Ndubeni’s area were charging motorists K50, 000 to use the detours.
Ms Mutesa said in an interview in Mpongwe yesterday that the villagers were charging motorists K50, 000 each and blocked the roads if anyone refused to pay.
She said it was sad that some people in the area had taken advantage of the natural disaster like floods to make money for themselves instead of partnering with Government to alleviate the sufferings ofthe affected people.
Ms Mutesa said it was inhumane for some people to make a fortune out of floods in the district, which had displaced many families.
“Areas like rural areas or villages are known to be helpful and courteous when a person or group of people are attacked by natural disasters like floods, but I am saddened that some people in Chief Ndubeni’s area have taken advantage of the flood situation in the area to make money,” Ms Mutesa said.
And Chililabombwe Municipal Council (CMC) Town Clerk Godwin Chinoya has said more than 63 families in Minestone Township at Kasumbalesa Border Post are using the nearby bush to answer the call of nature because the pit latrines are flooded with underground water.
Mr Chinoya said pit latrines in the township were filled with rain water from underground and people had resorted to answering their call of nature in the bush.
Mr Chinoya said the development was a challenge to the fight against Cholera, which had been persistent in the district and needed intensified efforts to curb the spread of the killer disease in the border town.
“As a council, we have hired a vacuum tanker to empty the flooded pitlatrines,” he said.
if the gov cant provide then, they should charge for the services they provide to create a detour as time and energy was spend on it unless being paid by the gov then why charge
They also did that to me two years ago. But for me it was worse because they advised me to use a detour which was worse than the main road and then my vehicle got stuck. To remove the vihicle i had to pay them. VERY INHUMANE.
Boys with no degrees can even think to make detours, Fi Rb and the group doing nothing, SHAMEEE.
Let them pay everyone wants to put food on the table.
Motorists make your govt pay for the roads, The villagers have the right to charge for the detours they have toiled to create!! If you don’t wanna pay, keep your car at home!!!!
Villagers, thats what we call initiative.Here in the west , they call that toll money.What you have done should be encouraged and please save some of that money for improving that road so that you can make those toll collections permanent.Nzelu nipa weka.