The Zambian government has introduced a national cleaning day to be held once every month.
The exercise is part of the “Keep Zambia Clean, Green and Healthy Campaign” initiative, which President Edgar Lungu re-launched last month in a bid to raise cleanness levels in the southern African country.
Zambia becomes only the third African country to set such a day after Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
The southers African country’s Local Government Minister Vincent Mwale, whose ministry is overseeing the exercise, said it would kick off this Saturday with the president leading the cleaning.
“It is now a requirement as government policy that all citizens participate in the cleaning of their surroundings every last Saturday of the month,” Mwale said.
He said only Seventh Day Adventists would be exempted from the exercise on a Saturday to allow them to worship, but they would be expected to get tidying the following day.
Rwanda’s national cleaning day initiative is arguably the best implemented. It has been credited as being the reason Kigali is considered to be Africa’s cleanest city.
The East African country’s cleaning day is held every last Saturday of the month, and often, even President Paul Kagame and his family are seen joining locals on the street for the cleaning drive.
