Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa says he has donated his first seven months’ salary to the Church in a bid to put God first.

Speaking when he addressed residents during the weekly Lusaka City Council (LCC) open forum held every Thursday, Sampa said he will give all Lusaka residents via the LCC open forum an opportunity to be heard and air their grievances in line with the operations of the council.

“The idea is that because a lot of you call and try to make appointments, and it hasn’t been possible to give an appointment to everybody, because I have hardly settled in and there are many things to do and so I have decided to set aside these two hours every Thursday afternoon from 2pm to 4pm so that we can listen to anybody who wants to come this period where you have to make an appointment, and also you need to have any specific topic. Whatever is troubling you, and you think it should be brought to the attention of the council and the Mayor, all the issues, this is the forum. Everyone is welcome. From last week’s forum, we saw most issues that have to do with plots, job-seeking, some money, some pension and many other related problems,” Sampa said.

“Bonse abaishele nalamipela chance iyakulanda so that ichili kumutima pali ino insita, olo ngamwachila sese inkoko ba tata tabala bwela but mwaisa kuno, so kuno mwaisa kulanda noti mwaisa kuno mayamba ukufilwa ukulanda mayo. Ninshi mwaonaula fuel yenu ukwisa kuno. Mwebambi mwishile na bus. Elo nga twafuma muno ninshi twapwishanya, noti twafuma muno again ati yulande pali abanthu ninshi tachili important. Bonse bamene mwabwela ni nthawi yo Kamba vilikumtima. Buti chamene ningakambe nichakuti, ngati mwabwela kupempha ndalama ba Mayor, ba Mayor bakalibe kufola. Ba Mayor basebenzako chabe two weeks. So, Ba Mayor bakalibe kufola, na salary nikalibe kuiona. Olo nikafole futi, salary ninadoneta ku church. Seven ma salaries naya donate ku church. Nizayamba kupeleka ku church, Mulungu first. So, imwe benangu mu church muja mwamene inutma ndiye mwamene ba zamu thandizani. (So, all of you that have come, I will give you a chance to speak. Some of you had to stop whatever you were doing to come to this forum and speak so I will grant you that opportunity and you shouldn’t fail to speak. Otherwise, you would have wasted your time and fuel to travel from your various homes and come here. So, you will all speak and then when we come out of here that means we have concluded our business; I do not want to have other private meetings with you after this. Then the other thing I can say is that, for those of you that have come to ask for money from the Mayor. I want to say that the Mayor has not yet been paid. I have not even seen my salary. And even if I get paid, I have already donated my salary to the church. I have donated the first seven of my salaries to the church because I am putting God first. So, if you want money from me, you can be helped from the churches where I have donated money. Otherwise, I do not have any money because I have not yet been paid. After this meeting, do not come and ask for transport money. Go back the way you came, if you were walking then walk back. But the biggest thing that I will give you is an opportunity to be heard.)”

He further expressed commitment to fulfil his campaign promises while listening to Lusaka residents’ concerns.

“So, you will speak, and we will write, we may not be able to give you all the answers today, but we will revert. But we will listen to you and give an opportunity to be heard,” said Sampa.