Zanzibar — ZANZIBAR Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Ms Tabia Maulid Mwita, has encouraged members of the public in Zanzibar to regularly clean their surroundings.
"We need to keep our surroundings and beaches clean," said Ms Mwita, when she led a beach cleaning exercise at Maruhubi, where she advised the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage to form bylaws that would help prevent polluting beaches and filthiness in all tourist attraction sites.
She said tourists need to find clean and attractive places since the tourism contributes than 70 per cent of the foreign currency and that environmental cleanliness, especially on the beaches, is one way of attracting tourists to Zanzibar
Minister Tabia argued that some citizens require laws in place to push them to be obedient and that laws can help control recklessness and irresponsible litter disposal.
"Let's start with the stakeholders who are the biggest users of our beaches- fishers, boat riders and builders, and hoteliers to educate them and introduce bylaws to enforce cleanliness," Ms Mwita said.
She said that the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar led by the President Hussein Ali Mwinyi has been taking efforts to ensure that Zanzibar becomes clean, so it is necessary to support these efforts by setting aside a special day to do the exercise, without waiting for the world cleanliness day.
"Let's not wait for national and international Days to clean, it should always be in our mind," she said that people in Zanzibar need to support the government initiatives.
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Minister pointed out that wastes are nowadays wealth because they are recycled to produce new products such as fertiliser, hence creating employments.
Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage, Ms Fatma Mbarouk, said many visitors are still not satisfied with the cleanliness of the Islands, especially on the beaches.
Thus, she asked stakeholders, including citizens, to up their efforts to ensure all areas of Zanzibar remain clean, while the Mayor of Zanzibar, Mr Mahmoud Mohammed Mussa, asked the citizens to stop throwing plastic waste especially on the beaches as it is very dangerous for the people's health and creatures in the sea.
World Cleanup Day is an annual global social action program aimed at combating the global solid waste problem, including the problem of marine debris. It is held over the course of a 24-hour period, on the 3rd Saturday of September annually. World Cleanup Day aims to raise awareness of the mismanaged waste crisis by mobilising all spheres of society to participate in cleanup actions.
This year, World Cleanup Day 2023 has developed a new theme, "Let's Do It World," for managing solid waste and cleaning up forests, rivers, streets, and beaches.
World Cleanup Day unites volunteers and partners worldwide to rid our planet of trash - cleaning up litter and mismanaged waste from our beaches, rivers, forests, and streets. World Cleanup Day harnesses the power of people around the world to achieve incredible things by joining together.
Since 2018, World Cleanup Day has brought together millions of people for the biggest waste collection day in human history.
