Traditional Authority Mponela and Dowa District Council vice chairperson Georgina Chunga have pleaded with the Dowa District Council to build a public toilet at Mponela trading centre’s main market.
Chief Mponela and Councillor Chunga, who is Mponela central ward councillor, said it is pathetic to see people finding themselves nowhere to answer calls of nature at the fast growing trading centre which is along the busy M1 Lilongwe – Kasungu road and Mponela-Ntchisi road.
Chief Mponela and Councillor Chunga pleaded with the council’s secretariat to build at least one toilet so that people should trust them as their ambassadors at the council meetings.
Speaking in an interview, the two said well-wishers have shown interest to build public toilets at the trading centre but cannot do this by themselves without the secretariat’s approval.
Chunga lamented that she lives at the hub of Mponela representing the ward in council meetings and finds it shameful to see the council secretariat failing to give convincing reasons on why there are no toilets in the district’s satellite markets and Mponela, in particular where more revenue is being collected for the council’s service delivery.
On his part, Chief Mponela said land issues have been a major challenge in the district and allowing business people to build public toilets in trading centres which are council property will cause more trouble in the future, hence the council should build the toilet on its own.
Speaking at one of the previous full council meetings, Dowa South East parliamentarian Harry Njoka Chipeni wondered why the Dowa District Council was voted number one in the 2015/16 financial year in revenue collections among all councils in Malawi while the same council is failing to build public toilets in its markets.
