By Alexander Tchongwe

Mzimba, November 9, Mana: Principal Environmental Officer for M’mbelwa District Council, James Pelani, has advised communities and traders in Mzimba to embrace cleanliness as a daily routine to prevent diseases that affect people due to lack of sanitation.

Pelani made the remarks on Friday during a Clean-Up exercise that the council organized and took place in various places of the districts such as offices, schools, residential areas, and markets.

He stated that as the rainy season approaches, it is essential for people to maintain cleanliness, including activities such as filling open pits and clearing blocked drainage systems, which serve as breeding grounds for malaria-transmitting mosquitoes.

Pelani said communities should ensure all unused pits are buried, and all grass and shrubs are cleared to make sure mosquitoes have no breeding grounds.

“As a council, we appeal to people to consider doing these clean-up exercises as routine work in communities where they stay more especially this time when weather forecasts show rains may start this month. We just set the precedence in cleanliness let communities continue with it,” said Pelani.

He appealed to businesspeople, traditional leaders, and church leaders to take a lead in these clean-up activities.

A Chanthomba resident who took part in the exercise at Mzimba Market, Ephraim Songa said residents need to take responsibility over areas they reside and do business.

“Our communities and towns are becoming filthy because we have forgotten about our civic duty to make them clean. We throw litter anyhow and everywhere which is not helping in making our places look good. Let's all be responsible in taking care of places where we live and conduct our businesses for our healthy living,” he said.

Mzimba District Council’s Public Relations Officer, Joel Phiri, expressed his appreciation for the turnout.

“We are pleased to see people turn out for the exercise today. This shows that the community supports this initiative.

“Such exercises are essential not only to keep our environment clean but also to protect ourselves from diseases linked to poor sanitation,” he said.

The clean-up aligns with Malawi’s 2063 agenda, which highlights the importance of a clean and healthy environment for the country’s future. Through efforts like these, Mzimba District Council is supporting the goal of making Malawi a better place for everyone.