Malawi capital city wee problem: Lilongwe demand for more public ablutions

Lilongwe City council built a number of public ablutions within the city long time ago and now they are old. They need to build more ablutions to meet the current population of the city.

In an interview with the City’s Public Relation Officer, Tamara Chafunya said, previously the public toilets were being managed by the council but due to financial constraints the council was facing in terms of maintenance and rehabilitation of the toilets, it resolved to privatize them.

Currently, some private operators have been identified and offer letters are being distributed to the successful companies.

But with the population growth in the city, the public ablutions have been overwhelmed.

One of the public ablution assistant within the city, Geoffrey Mwale at Lilongwe minibus depot near Bwaila District hospital said it can be good if the council could add more places so that everyone could access easily without standing at the queue to help themselves.

He added that he feels sorry for some people who just go anywhere to assist themselves instead of using public ablutions.

Further he says we assist even those who don’t have money (K50) to pay for toilets therefore we encourage all Malawians to utilize public toilets unlike using inappropriate places like walls, trees and to avoid polluting the sanitation.

City council public relation officer added that the council has recently reviewed some of its bylaws including all health related by-laws in the city which dates back to 2002.

The review of the by-laws comes in the wake that there are many people who chose to neglect their role as a good and responsible citizen and to adheres to the requirements of the city by laws.

This is simply because the current by-laws are outdated and lack tangible provisions for stiffer penalties.

Therefore the issue of open defecation or urination is one such malpractice that continues to make our city a health hazard and pollute the air around us.

It is expected that once the new by-laws have been gazetted, the capital city will have sanity among residents and there shall be order and cleanliness.

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