* People need to know that doing this is putting the lives of so many road users in danger—Council chairperson
* We have no choice — the soil around our homes is still too moist and the only place where we can dry our rice is on the tarmac—farmer
By George Mponda, MANA
Karonga District Council chairperson, Misheck Mwaijengo has warned farmers to stop drying their rice on the sidewalks of M1 Road to avoid accidents.
Advertisement
This is coming as most farmers have started harvesting their rice and it is common practice to be drying the yield on the road and in an interview on Friday, Mwaijengo said although the practice is very common during harvest time, it poses a grave risk to road users since accidents can happen.
“Our colleagues from the department of agriculture should go around with awareness messeges to stop farmers from drying their rice and other products on the road,” Mwaijengo said.
“We should not wait for an accident to happen before action is taken. The stretch of road from Karonga town to Songwe border is where this practice is very common and some parts of Chilumba as well.
“People need to know that doing this is putting the lives of so many road users in danger,” he said.
Council chairperson, Mwaijengo
In a seperate interview, one of the rice farmers, Rehema Chipeta from Zindi Village in the area of Paramount Chief Kyungu, said lack of space to dry their harvest in their homes is what pushes them to the M1 Road.
“As we speak, the soil around our homes is still too moist and the only place where we can dry our rice is on the tarmac. We have no choice,” Chipeta said.
Just this week, it was also observed of the nuisance free roaming of cattle around streets of Karonga Town and following complaints from motorists, cyclists and homeowners, Mwaijengo said the District Council has formulated by-laws to control this malpractice.
The decision came about after the council tried to reason with the cattle owners to desist from this malpractice but, as according to Mwaijengo, it seems the owners don’t — an attitude of showing disrespect to authorities.
Motorists and cyclists have for long complained about the herds of free roaming cattle in Karonga Town and speaking in an interview with Malawi Mews Agency (MANA), taxi driver, Badwin Mkandawire said the cattle are becoming a traffic hazard in the town.
“They are causing inconveniences as commuters are being forced to wait for the cattle to cross the road,” he said. “The situation is worse especially in the morning and afternoon when these herds are going out to feed or returning to their kraals, if at all they have any, since some cattle owners leave them to roam freely even at night.” Mkandawire said.
Bicycle taxi operator, Keston Msiska said the free roaming livestock is a major concern to them and action needs to be taken before something bad happens: “Accidents have happened before due to cattle wandering the streets in town.
“It is time our Council woke up and realise this is an urban area where cattle are not supposed to be running around like in some bush,” Msiska said.
Thus MANA contacted Mwaijengo, who added: “It is a very serious problem around town as in some cases residents wake up to find cattle sleeping on their lawns while some even go further to bring their cattle for feeding at the District Commissioner’s office lawn.”
“We formulated by-laws to control this malpractice and proposed that the Council should build a kraal where all cattle found roaming will be captured and kept for their owners to pay a fee of K50,000 per cattle or risk it being confiscated.”
Mwaijengo said they have since sent a draft copy of the by-laws to the Ministry of Local Government, Unity & Culture for review and authorisation and are yet to receive feedback.
Advertisement
Public relations officer for the Ministry of Local Government, Anjoya Mwanza confirmed that all councils, including Karonga, submitted draft by-laws for approval.
“Before the Minister approves, by-laws undergo a review process where the Ministry of Justice goes through them to check if they are reasonable, fair and consistent internally as well as in line with other laws.
“In this regard, all the draft by-laws submitted by the councils are with the Ministry of Justice for the aforementioned purpose,” she said.
She appealed to Chiefs surrounding Karonga town to help the Council make cattle owners aware that it is illegal to be feeding or leaving their livestock to roam freely.
Advertisement