Lazarus Chakwera
President Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday launched the National Clean-up Day and challenged Malawians to turn garbage into worth.
The day will be observed for three hours on the second Friday of every month under the theme ‘A Clean Environment: My Right, My Responsibility’.
As part of the event, Chakwera, alongside Vice President Saulos Chilima, Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara, Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition sides of the isle took part in a cleaning exercise in Chinsapo Township, Lilongwe.
Chakwera said a clean environment was part of the Malawi the Tonse administration was building and that every Malawian has a responsibility to turn that into reality.
The Malawi leader said Malawi had witnessed 26 years of garbage being dumped in rivers, thin plastic being thrown in the streets, chemical waste leaking from factory pipes and 26 years of men urinating on trees.
He observed that the country’s cities, municipalities, towns, trading centres and markets were lagging behind in terms of waste management.
“We, as a nation, are generating half a kilogramme of waste per capita every day. That adds up to a total of 633 fifteen-tonne trucks of waste being produced every 24 hours. The National Clean-up Day is an effort to bring us together in ensuring that this waste is properly managed. Ultimately, our goal must be to reuse, recycle and reduce waste,” Chakwera said.
He said turning waste into worth did not require too much innovation as technologies for using waste to generate gas or make briquettes for cooking exist.
Forestry and Natural Resources Minister Nancy Tembo hailed Chakwera for setting aside the National Clean-up Day, saying the government would ensure that the citizenry lived healthy lives.
Tembo said Malawi would save a lot of money, as funds that would have been used for buying medicine to treat preventable diseases would be put to other uses.
The minister said the country used to receive international delegates who would jet into the country to appreciate cleanliness in cities such as Blantyre.
Source: The Daily Times_November 12, 2020- Taonga Sabola