Can public littering be curbed?

The arrest and subsequent fines which Malawian national, musician Joseph Alfazema, paid in Dubai for public littering, reveals how Malawians have become accustomed to dropping litter.

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He bought a chewing gum, unwrapped it, and, carelessly, threw away its wrapper. There could have been nothing wrong if musician Joseph Alfazema did that in Malawi’s Blantyre City. But Alfazema was in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). And that was a grievous sin he had to pay for. He was arrested and charged a fine of K25 000 for littering.

“As you know, I am not familiar with the laws here as I have been here for only three months. I was arrested for chewing and littering in public. But I paid the fine after they detained me,” Alfazema told The Nation on Monday this week.

But does one need a law to remember that public littering is morally bad? One could, of course, understand Alfazema. Like most Malawians, he grew up in a country where public littering is a norm.

In fact, last year, former president Bakili Muluzi spoke on MBC television channel of his frustration with littering in the country.

“People are just taking sugar cane in the cities and throwing the waste without thinking where it will end. We are making our cities dirty and we need to change this attitude,” he said.

In cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba, the sight of passengers in vehicles throwing litter through the windows and pedestrians carelessly disposing of empty bottles, used papers and plastics is common.

One would not blame a visitor for concluding that public littering is legal in Malawi. Yet, it is not.

The 1996 Environmental Management Act (EMA) imposes a number of penalties on those who, deliberately or otherwise, litter in and around urban centres or settlements. The law stipulates that one can pay a minimum fine of K20 000 and maximum fine of K1 million or spend a period of 10 years in jail if found guilty of environmental pollution, which includes disorderly disposition of refuse.

In terms of enforcing these laws, authorities in district and city councils have ratified by-laws in line with the Environmental Affairs Department order to observe proper management of refuse in all urban areas.

Take Blantyre City Council (BCC), for instance. By-law 4 (2) under general cleanliness, provides that “No person shall defecate, urinate, spit, expectorate, blow nose, except when using a handkerchief or litter the streets anywhere in the council other than in the sanitary, private or public conveniences”.

In fact, the penalties in acting otherwise are well stipulated in by-law 18, which reads: “Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of these by-laws or who fails to comply with any notice or conditions imposed by the council thereof commits an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a fine of K2 000 and in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of K200 for each day during which the offence continues after conviction thereof or to six months imprisonment or to both such fine and imprisonment”.

The question is: If the law is clear on public littering, how come it is not enforced?

BCC by-law 19 clearly provides the agents of enforcement. It reads: “For avoidance of doubt, any employee of the council or any member of the public who finds any person contravening by-law 4 may apprehend the same and bring him to a police officer or health officer who shall take the person to police for prosecution”.

Simply put the power to enforce by-laws lies not only with the council, but citizens as well.

But random interviews with people in the streets of Blantyre revealed that no-one is aware of these laws.

“You mean I can be arrested for throwing this plastic paper anyhow here in Blantyre?” wondered one Blantyre resident, who was drinking water from a small blue plastic paper.

Before he could finish, another chipped in.

“I agree that public littering is bad. But we have reached a point where nobody cares. If what you say about laws is right, how come we have never heard of any person being arrested for public littering?” said Jonas Ngaiyaye, a Blantyre resident.

He added that even if the laws were enforced, it would be a challenge to the residents because the city has few bins or disposal areas.

“How does the city council expect me to stop littering without providing litter bins in the streets?” he queried.

BCC public relations officer Anthony Kasunda says through the ‘Let’s Keep Blantyre Clean, Green Campaign’, the council has received financial support from the public, part of which will be allocated into the purchase of bins.

“We have received 100 bins from Candlex Limited, which we will soon place along the streets,” he said.

Kasunda agrees that, indeed, there is a knowledge gap among the public regarding laws governing general cleanliness in the city.

“In the first place, we need to understand that councils have, for years, been functioning without councillors. But now that councillors are in, we have quite a number of issues we are working on. One of which will be reviewing the fines so as to deter people from committing these crimes,” he said.

Kasunda added that through the ‘Keep Blantyre Clean, Green Campaign’, the council is raising public awareness on different environmental issues, one of which is public littering.

“On the enforcement, as a council, we are doing our part. One of the examples is removing vendors from the streets. However, as the by-law stipulates, we call upon the citizens to also play a role. If they find a person littering in the public, they should enforce a citizenship arrest and take the person to police,” he said.

Kasunda further advanced that his council will soon start distributing leaflets and newsletters aimed at familiarising the public with the by-laws.

Unarguably, BCC is not alone in this failure to enforce its own by-laws. The story is the same in Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba. In fact, it is a story of all the councils in Malawi.

Unless these councils wake up from their slumber to challenge their people on public littering, Malawi will not stop being embarrassed by its nationals, like Alfazema, when they travel abroad.