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——Kazungula District stakeholders have ushered in a new District Aids Task Force (DATF) executive committee to be in office for the next three years.
This follows the dissolution of the old committee for what the District Development Coordinating Committee (DDCC) members described as lacking seriousness among the top leadership.
According to the special DDCC meeting which was held at Kazungula District Council Chambers, members resolved that the previous DATF executive committee needed to be disband for not performing to stakeholders’ expectations.
The DDCC felt the district needed a new committee that would revive the DATF’s expected mandate in the district.
It is for this reason that last Friday, stakeholders met at the council chambers and ushered in new DATF executive members and elected Kennedy Chiimpa from Kazungula district council as Chairperson.
Mr Chiimpa, who is also Kazungula District Council Planner, would be assisted by Annely Imasiku from Response Network as his Vice Chairperson.
The position of DATF Secretary went to Gift Lwembe from Poverty Reduction Education and his Vice is Memory Muselekwa from HODI, a None Governmental Organization working together with Care International Zambia in helping the needy in rural communities.
Edwin Sekute from Sekute Community Development Trust is the new DATF treasurer and the position of Vice treasurer went to Saboi Imasiku from Kazungula District Health Office.
Meanwhile, three more departments were included as committee members to fill up the number required in the DATF executive committee and members are to come from ZANIS, Community Development and Social Welfare as well as the department of health which has more than one representation.
Network for Zambian People living with HIV/AIDS (NZP+) was also included to be among the committee members.
Speaking shortly after the ushering in of new DATF executive members, Provincial Aids Coordinating Advisor, Lester Nambale, said he was happy that Kazungula DATF has new executive committee members and urged the stakeholders to give them maximum support for them to perform to their expectations.
Mr Nambale said there is need for the new DATF executive committee members to be proactive in their operations so that Kazungula DATF, which had lagged behind, can eventually be strengthened.
He observed that most stakeholders in the district do not submit their Stakeholder Activity Reporting Forms (SARFs) to DATF on time and that the data that most stakeholders had filled in previous reports lacked credibility.
The PACA urged stakeholders to always verify certain information before filling in the SARFs so that correct data can be entered on the E-Mapping system to avoid cheating.
And speaking earlier, Kazungula District Council Secretary, Raphael Zulu, appealed to DATF stakeholders to support the new District Aids Coordinating Advisor (DACA), Wendy Munchindu, so that she can coordinate HIV/AIDS activities properly in the district.
Kazungula district has had no DACA for a long period of time resulting in lack of seriousness in the previous DATF executive committee members who were also accused of having mismanaged DATF funds as well as failing to perform to stakeholders’ expectations.
