An organization which has been closely monitoring the progress of National Clean-up Campaign-initiative says the initiative has lost its initial momentum as people demand payment for carrying out clean-up exercises.
AppDev. Chief Executive Officer Sylvester Kelvin Tchuma says his company has observed that the initiative is not running smoothly as projected when it was being launched and community members are no longer implementing it in their respective areas.
According to Tchuma, communities do not have knowledge on how best they can succeed without being pushed by authorities and people demand payment just as it has been the case with other initiatives.
He also claimed that the emergence of political actors as ring leaders of the initiative has made community members think it is for political gain.
Tchuma suggested that the initiative should be re-introduced to communities with emphasis on gains communities will get from cleaning surroundings and on that it is free work
He said that authorities should: “Introduce a complete independent entity-comprising of people at all levels-that can come up with better ways of running it continuously as well as ensuring mandatory adherence to ways of keeping various places clean.
He added that the campaign should be taken to schools by encouraging students to be cleaning their surrounding every once a month.
“By doing this, community members can see its goodness and later join them,” he said.
The National Cleanup Campaign-initiative which aims at ensuring sanitation in cities and residential areas was launched by the State President, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera November 11, 2020.
