Government has instructed Heads of Government Departments (Hods) in Chipili district to immediately occupy the 10 newly-built housing units.

The directive comes in the wake of reports of vandalism on the housing units whose construction at the cost K 9 million is currently at over 82 percent complete.

ZANIS reports that Chipili District Administrative Officer, Katele Lengwe explained that the order aims at safeguarding the properties from further damage and ensuring they fulfil their intended purpose.

“We have decided that the houses should be occupied before they are commissioned by government to protect them from being vandalised,” Mr Katele said.

Mr Katele has since urged the surrounding communities to help in safeguarding public property and report any incidents of vandalism to the authorities.

And the traditional leadership in Chipili has warned communities against vandalising public property.

Headman Mung’anga urged communities to be vigilant and report vandals to the police, civic or traditional leaders in the area stating that most of the public property installed in the area is aimed to serve the same communities vandalizing it.

And Heads of government departments have expressed gratitude to government for providing them with decent accommodation.

Representative of the HoDs, Paxina Peneshi the District Culture and Traditional Affairs Officer, noted that being newly created, Chipili district lacked decent accommodation.

Ms Peneshi said as a result, government officers working in the area have been forced to stay in substandard, mostly grass thatched houses, due to a critical shortage of decent accommodation in the district.

“We are happy to move into our new homes and start working from here. This will enable us to serve our community better,” Ms Peneshi said.