"The Department of Waste Management must wake up" - A rebuttal

| Thursday April 15, 2010 00:00

The issue castigates the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control for failure to collect waste on time, and goes on to talk about the health hazards likely to be incurred by failure to do so. In the same issue, the Mmegi comment that the department recently gave excuses that it has run out of funds and hence the situation of overflowing rubbish bins.   It is also reported that the Department recently warned that people should not dump household waste at public waste bins. We wish to make it known that the comment above is misdirected, due to the following facts;

*The Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control is not responsible for collection of waste in the city nor anywhere else in the country, it has never been its responsibility now or before. Instead the responsibility of waste collection lies with the respective town or district councils. The department referred to is a national government department which sets policies, standards and guidelines for waste management.

*The department has never given Mmegi or any person an interview recently and given excuses of lack of funds to collect waste. *The department has not recently warned people not to dump household waste at public bins as the commentary claims.

*The department can not dictate to respective councils to outsource waste as the commentary offers as suggestion, simply because local authorities administer their budget and plans within their jurisdiction.

We regret that the commentary is malicious and misleading. The commentary blames the department for the mandate that is not theirs.  In fact, the department has been playing a pivotal role at its level and within its mandate to teach the public about the dangers of poor waste management practice that leads to some of the hazards spelled out in the commentary.The collection of waste in the Gaborone City Council is the responsibility of the municipality and hence it will be worth it if Mmegi can inquire from the GCC itself, instead of falsely accusing the department. It is regrettable for Mmegi paper to make such misleading and unprovoked comments, without even cross checking with the department if they have anything to do with collection of overflowing waste. The Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism (inclusive of its departments) has never refused to be interviewed by any journalist seeking information about issues pertaining to its mandate, it is therefore shocking for the Ministry to see such false allegations in a reputable newspaper like Mmegi.

Archibald NgakayagaePrincipal Public Relations Officer

Editor's noteIt has always been our view - and we believe that of many Batswana that the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control is responsible for formulating and providing policy direction and leadership to all issues pertaining to waste management issues in Botswana. When local Authorities for which it draws up these policies fail to implement them, to whom should the nation look for answers? It is our contention that the ultimate body responsible for giving direction is the department. Yes the implementation of these policies - which include charging people for throwing household waste in public bins is done by the local authorities, but the ultimate authority that should ensure the policies are followed to the dot, that must give direction and take local authorities to task is the department. The day the department issues a statement to the effect that it has, using the Work Management Act, charged a local council for failing to do their job will tell the extent to which the department is serious about doing its job. To that extent we maintain that someone is sleeping on their job at the department. We do however regret saying the department has warned people not to dump household waste at rubbish bins. We hope indeed that the department is not saying that there is nothing wrong with that as that piece of legislation flows from the department policies, and we stand to be corrected.