Copperbelt Minister calls councils to be proactive

Copperbelt Province Minister, Mwenya Musenge, has said local authorities must be proactive in their duties for markets to be better trading places.

 Mr Musenge wondered how the Private Public Partnership would work if local authorities did not play an active role in the provision of services.

The Minister said this in Ndola today when he toured Masala market to check on the cleanliness of the biggest city’s trading area.

Mr Musenge said there was no way the council would provide proper services by collecting K500 (KR5 ngwee) per day from each trader and expected to maintain cleanliness at the trading place.

 Mr Musenge said Masala market attracted a large population and that there was need to ensure that the place was clean.

He called the people to change their mind set in maintaining hygiene, saying the council alone cannot manage waste in markets but that everyone should be on board to ensure the market was clean.

The Provincial Minister said markets were not places for traders only but all the people as they had need of buying different merchandise, hence the need to maintain high standards of cleanliness.

 And Ndola Town Clerk, Charity Mpande, said the local authority collected money that was way below the services that it provided but pointed out that its main role was service provision which is non profitable.