Government commended for road construction

Government commended for road construction

Chadiza, May 13, ZANIS ——– Chiefs in Chadiza district have welcomed the Patriotic Front (PF) government’s move to construct the Chipata/Chadiza road which has remained in a deplorable state since independence.

 Chiefs Zingalume and Mwangala said this when Eastern province Permanent Secretary Bert Mushala called on them.

The traditional leaders said that the previous government had made promises to improve the state of roads in the area but that nothing had be done to that effect.

Chief Mwangala accused the former ruling party (the MMD) and its leadership of cheating the electorate during their visits to the area.

“The former ruling party has left the people of Chadiza in a worse situation than they were before 1991 as the road has remained in a deplorable state since independence. They came here and made promises during their visits to this area in order to win votes from the people,” he said.

Chief Mwangala also complained that there were inadequate schools to meet the growing population in his chiefdom.

“There are no secondary schools our children cannot all be accommodated in the schools at the Boma. They have to walk long distances to access educational facilities. There is need to construct
schools to attend to the educational needs in the rural community,” he said.

And Chief Mwangala appealed to government to quickly sink boreholes in order for people in the area to access clean and safe drinking water.

The chief said over 100 villages were depending on shallow streams and wells saying this was posing a health threat as a number of villagers who have no toilets were answering the call of nature (defecating) in the bushes, a move which he said could contaminate the water sources.

Meanwhile, Chief Zingalume said Chewa chiefs had continued to remain behind because very few developments have been undertaken in their areas.

“We feel abandoned by government because the developments we are seeing in other chiefdoms are not seen in any of the chiefdoms here in Chadiza, there are very few developments that can be cited in the district,” he said.

The traditional leader said that they felt that government disregarded them as there were no developments taking place in their areas.

He however, thanked the PF government for placing the construction of Chipata/Chadiza roads on the link Zambia 8000, which he said will see more investments in the agriculture sector.

And later, Mr Mushala said the PF government was committed to taking developments to rural communities saying this was the reason that it had taken steps to implement the decentralization policy.

“We believe that all developmental programmes should be initiated and implemented at grass root level because the grassroots know the challenges and they are the ones to appreciate such developments,” he said.

Mr Mushala also noted that government had realized that road infrastructure was the engine to economic growth saying this was why it is top on the PF developmental agenda.

“We will ensure that the Chipata/Chadiza road all the way to Katete is tarred to increase access for economic benefits which will eventually uplift the living standards of people in Chadiza,” he said.

Mr Mushala also stated that feeder roads would be rehabilitated with the use of Rural Roads Unit (RRU) equipment.