•THE Lusaka City Council has not yet come up with a plan to build another lavatory in Kamwala.
By MICHELO HIMAAMBO –
THE provision of adequate public conveniences has been identified as a priority public health issue.
According to the Public Health Bill, the law governing the provision of public facilities aims at improving the planning of conveniences, in particular, for public use, and ensures facilities meet needs of local communities.
According to the Bill, each business facility is required to have local conveniences in line with an assessment of their community’s need for lavatories, including needs of special groups of people like the disabled.
But over the years, lack of adequate public lavatories in Lusaka has become a source of concern.
In time, the lack of conveniences, may cause a serious problem for the public especially as the rain season starts.
For example, it has been observed that a number of shopping complexes or malls have been operating without conveniences for a long period of time; meaning, workers in such buildings as well as members of the public visiting them have nowhere to go for relief.
Besides that, a number of new shopping centres restrict access to public conveniences by locking them, especially on Sundays and on public holidays.
Places of interest which lack public conveniences include some shopping centres in the Kamwala second class trading area.
A good number of the centres are rather grubby and rundown in spite of being constructed in the recent past.
These are mostly located off Independence Avenue before the south-end overpass and roundabout.
Many of the shops in the chopping centres stock a fascinating collection of goods; among them plastic bowls, enamel mugs, mirrors, combs, music systems, clothing, you name it; and tend to attract a high volume of human traffic.
Sheba Phiri, a frequent visitor to this locality expresses her dissatisfaction with regard to lack of public conveniences.
She says it is not good that certain shops in Kamwala did not help her, in particular, at the time she was in need.
“As I was shopping in this particular shop, I felt pressed so I requested to be shown where I could find a public lavatory but a shop manager said I could not use the lavatory because there was only one which was meant for management only,” she narrates.
Sheba says she went to plead with the manager who completely refused to assist her.
She was instead advised to go to Downtown Shopping Mall, located some 30 minutes walk away, which had public conveniences.
“Honestly speaking, is it normal for someone who is pressed and is in a shop in Kamwala area to be referred all the way to Downtown Shopping Mall on Kafue Road?
“What I would like to know is: do we have inspectors who should be making sure that such buildings which attract many people have necessary facilities such as lavatories?” Sheba asked.
She was of the view that the department in charge of inspecting such facilities should ensure that the right standards are followed.
She said if property developers cannot afford to provide conveniences for their customers, then inspectors should close down their buildings until such a time when they will afford to have all the facilities in place.
Anna Mulenga, a trader at Luburma Market in Kamwala, expressed anger at the unpleasant smell emanating from unoccupied stands due to some people who have a habit of urinating in them.
Besides that, lack of conveniences drove some people to seek relief even in occupied stalls that would be left empty at night.
The vandals would leave the stalls soiled and traders would have the job of carrying out a thorough cleaning in the morning.
“People urinate in the stands the smell is very disturbing. However, I have no option but do my business from the same area near the empty
stalls because at the end of the day I need to produce money to feed my family,” Mulenga narrated.
She said it would be better for the local authorities to build public conveniences in the area so that people stop urinating in empty stalls
have somewhere dignified to answer the call of nature during the day and at night.
She warned that if left unchecked, the dirty stalls could be a possible source of disease outbreaks at the height of the rainy season.
Lusaka City Council public relations manager Mulunda Habeenzu said although the council had not yet thought of building more lavatories, Kamwala second class trading area had a public convenience.
“There is a public toilet in Kamwala. I do not understand why people have complained about not having a public lavatory,” Mr Habeenzu said.
He said the council had not yet come up with a plan to build another lavatory in Kamwala.
Like a number of locations in Lusaka, Kamwala has grown. New grocery shops and hardware outlets are being opened as far as the filling station near the Defence Services Command and Staff College which is nearly three Kilometres away from Luburma Market where the public conveniences are located.
Besides the insufficiency of the conveniences which have never been expanded since they were built, the population in the Luburma Market itself and in the surrounding areas has grown and continues to grow while the sanitation facilities have remained static.
This is worrisome not only to the traders but shop owners and members of the public frequenting the market who have to cross the rail line in order to access public conveniences at Downtown Shopping Centre located quiet a good distance from Kamwala.
This has given rise to all sorts of mischievous practices such as some people’s use of the so-called mobile lavatories, a term referring to the use of empty opaque beer, milk and soft drink packs to answer the call of nature.
The packs are carelessly disposed of in the open where they pose a threat of being a source of possible contamination and disease to the public.
The LCC is mindful of such fears and has future plans to make sure that fully manned conveniences are installed in all the busy places in the city.
If adequately implemented, such future plans would ensure that Lusaka moves a step closer to regaining its status through increased access to public conveniences which would promote good sanitation and better public health for all.
