26 December 2008
editorial
FOR a long time, issues of environment have persistently taken a back seat both at corporate and community levels.
For many people in Zambia, environmental concerns are mere by-the-way issues and not much attention is paid to them.
This is why, for instance, incidences of environmental degradation through illegal dumping of garbage, including dangerous substances, are so commonplace in this country.
Some manufacturing companies have been discharging effluent into streams and rivers with abandon and endangering the health of the communities for so long.
Some companies in urban centres are the major culprits for the filthy environment that surrounds their premises.
Almost without exception, a visit to any city or town in Zambia will reveal huge mounds of dumped waste in undesignated areas.
Members of households that have no proper garbage-handling facilities simply walk to the end of the street and dump their rubbish at an isolated corner.
This is despite the common knowledge that maintenance of a clean and conducive environment is the first prerequisite for a healthy society.
Corporate bodies, institutions and individuals who endanger the lives and health of innocent people through dumping of hazardous waste should be brought to account for their actions.
The warning by Central Province Minister, Ackimson Banda, that the Government would close business houses dumping waste in undesignated areas should be taken as a timely caution.
Those that choose to ignore the warning should have themselves to blame when the consequences befall them. Local authorities should play a more proactive role in ensuring that the environment is safeguarded.
One effective way of doing this would be to strengthen the inspectorate functions in city and municipal councils. This should be coupled with a working law-enforcement structure so that offenders are promptly brought to book.
It is only when people begin to realise that they can be punished for their wrongful actions that they would be deterred.
Some of the garbage dumping that goes on in our urban centres could be a thing of the past if only the local authorities flexed their legal muscles a little bit.
The time to start is now, otherwise all the fine-sounding by-laws that local authorities have will have no meaning in the end if the environment is destroyed.
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