Dar residents dodge end month hygiene exercise

LOCAL government leaders in Dar es Salaam have blamed city residents for dodging the endmonth cleanliness campaign that was initiated by President John Magufuli to ensure hygiene in the country.

Local leaders in Kinondoni, Temeke and Ilala Municipal Councils disclosed the information yesterday in Dar es Salaam before the officials of the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC) who had toured the areas to supervise the progress of the campaign.

A Health Official at Azimio Street in Temeke District said that the majority of the residents failed to show-up during the operations, a move that creates setbacks towards the management of the exercise.

“One of the main challenges we (local government officials) do face is poor response by the residents, most of them especially business people who are the main people concerned in the cleaning process,” he said.

Mr Lupenza said the street residents at the area (Azimio) have the habit of going unseen during the hours of the operation (cleaning hours) scheduled from 6am to 10am while shutting their businesses mainly to dodge the cleaning process.

The Chairperson of Azimio- West, Mr Issa Manyama, said the challenge is mainly attributed to lack of special cleaning equipment to maintain the town’s local streets.

“We do lack special cleaning equipment such as graders and dump-trucks to help carry out the fritters away,” he said, appealing to the city’s leaders to consider purchasing the equipment frequently.

Health Official at Buguruni Public Market Mr Patric Mazengo expressed the need for street law enforcement towards implementing the endmonthly cleaning exercise.

“It is very hard to control some of the residents especially at events such as this (Public End-monthly cleaning operations), unless they are ordered to do so by law enforcers,” he said and appealed to city leaders including the police to always join the residents to oversee the cleaning exercise.

The Principal Environmental Management Officer with NEMC, Mr Jaffar Chimgege, asked the city leaders and the public to always to ensure the town’s streets cleanliness is maintained to oversee the country’s environmental health.

Mr Chimgege, who is also Environmental Expert Inspector, said the end-monthly cleanliness that was initiated by the President should always be observed by the public participating in the exercise. The NEMC team led by Mr Chimegege had toured the areas to assess the cleanliness progress.

The Council would later give out a report for further actions towards maintaining the cleanliness in the city. President Magufuli initiated the scheme last year after he cancelled the Independence Day celebrations marked on every December 9.

Instead he instituted the day for majorclean- up campaign towards addressing public health concerns. He also directed the regional leaders to administer the programme to oversee the clean-up exercise in their areas every last Saturday of every month.