Lilongwe city fathers say the city’s first summit slated for March 15, 2023 seeks to gather ideas that would help to turn Lilongwe into a status befitting a capital city.

During a media briefing held on Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer for Lilongwe City Council, Macloud Kadammanja said the status of the city is comparatively far below standards of capital cities in the region.

“We see all those jokes people make on the social media about our capital city. Some go to the extent of posting pictures of Rwanda’s capital Kigali and our Lilongwe just to show how our counterparts have gone ahead with development.

“We share with such views, our city is below standards in some areas and this is the very reason we are calling for this summit so that stakeholders can poul in ideas that would trigger development,” Kadammanja said.

The summit coming under the theme: “My City My Responsility, Together Building the City We Want” is focusing on how to deal with illegal vending rampant in the city, waste management, infrastructure development and greening among other crucial areas.

The city’s mayor, Richard Banda stressed the significance of the summit by highlighting that the coming together of various stakeholders and city residents to brainstorm on how to develop the city.

“As the theme indicates, it is the responsibility of each and every citizen to take care of the city, in doing so, we will be able to create a city that we want,” he said.

Banda added: “We want to have a city with upgraded road infrastructure, building that erected in accordance with city planning and standards, proper refuse management and a city that is green conducive to everyone.”

This is the first time that Lilongwe City Council is conducting a development summit.

The summit has been budgeted at around K40 million.

The summit is expected to draw together people with ideas on how to develop the city as envisaged under Malawi 2063.

Malawi’s capital city was moved to Lilongwe from Zomba in 1975.