By Andsen Banda:
Some communities in Traditional Authority Tsabango in Lilongwe risk contracting waterborne diseases for drinking unsafe water following vandalization of boreholes in the area.
A source told Malawi News Agency that Chiwolamakanda and other surrounding villages are some of the places that may fall victim to water borne diseases if the water situation is not addressed.
Chairperson for Tsabango Area Development Committee (ADC), Myles Kabambe said in the said areas (Chiwolamakanda and surrounding villages in T.A. Tsabango) drink unsafe water from Lilongwe and Nanjiri rivers because boreholes in the area were vandalised.
“We do experience this problem because of theft and vandalism. We had a borehole, but unknown people vandalized it, that’s why we drink unsafe water as we have nowhere to go,” Kabambe said.
The Tsabango ADC Chairperson also cited the problem of low water table in the area, saying it makes drilling boreholes difficult.
He said as a result, in the course of searching for places of higher water table, boreholes have been drilled far from the villages where water table is higher, hence prone to vandalism and theft.
“Last time we wanted to drill three boreholes with assistance from different organizations, but the problem was low water table in the area, as such, we failed to drill the boreholes in these villages,” Kabambe added.
Herbart Chibwinja, a resident from the area, concurred with the ADC chairperson, saying they are at risk of contracting water borne diseases.
“We drink water which looks clean but is not safe at all, this is because we don’t have boreholes in our area and this forces us to drink water from surrounding rivers. This may lead us to contracting diarrhea and other waterborne diseases,” Chibwinja said.
Meanwhile, Councillor of Mlodza Ward, Fabiano Lupanga has attributed vandalism of boreholes in the area to lack of sense of ownership of public facilities among community members in the area.
“Ownership of any development projects becomes very problematic in this area because they take the initiatives as government-owned instead of taking care and monitoring the development projects as theirs.
“The first borehole was installed in Chiwolamakanda and that is the borehole we are talking about that it was vandalized. NKhulawe and Dako areas are experiencing the same problem of lack of sense of ownership for projects among communities,” Lupanga said.
The councillor further complained that despite approaching organizations such UNICEF and Globe Hope to drill boreholes in the area, they have also complained of the problem of low water table in the area.
According to the councillor, they also approached Lilongwe District Council to bail them out through District Development Fund (DDF), but it also failed due to the same challenge of low water table.
“I wish government could help us to install solar water pumps so that these areas should start drinking piped water,” appealed the councillor.
