By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, March 14, Mana: Lilongwe City Council (LCC) says it is facing a shortage of vehicles to support its enforcement department to do the work of promoting sanity in Lilongwe City.

Briefing journalists on Thursday in Lilongwe, Lilongwe City Mayor Councilor Richard Banda said the council's enforcement department has one vehicle, a situation which he said hinders the enforcement works by the department.

“The enforcement team is facing various challenges to do its work because of the problem of transportation, as there is only one car for enforcement and it is very challenging for the enforcement team to cover the whole city using one car,” Banda said.

He added that LCC is in need of at least five vehicles, special for its enforcement department, in order for the department to effectively deliver required enforcement works in Lilongwe.

According to the mayor, currently LCC enforcers have managed to remove 80 percent of the vendors who were operating in unauthorized places in the town of Lilongwe, adding that the enforcers would do more with enough vehicles.

He, therefore, appealed to well-wishers, including Lilongwe City residents, to support the city council in the procurement of vehicles for the council's enforcement division.

“We appeal to the well-wishers and residents to support us; we need more vehicles to give our enforcers to do the enforcement work wherever they want in the city,” Banda said.

In his comment, one of the Lilongwe City residents, Simon Sande, said it is pathetic to see the council struggling with the issue of vehicles to do its operations.

“Each and every day the council collects revenue, and it's failing to buy vehicles for effective operations aimed at bringing sanity in the city. How can the whole city of Lilongwe rely on one vehicle? It is pathetic,” Sande said.

He advised LCC to properly utilize the revenue it collects from Lilongwe City residents in order to purchase the vehicles which the council requires.