Mununshi workers go without wages for 40 months, says Chongo

Mununshi workers go without wages for 40 months, says Chongo
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Monday July 28, 2008 [04:00]

MWENSE Patriotic Front member of parliament Jacob Chongo has said some workers at Mununshi Banana Scheme have gone for about 30 to 40 months without pay. In an interview yesterday, Chongo said the scheme was "long dead" as almost nothing was happening there. He said out of the 500 hectares of land at the scheme, only about seven hectares was active and that it had now been turned into a place for brewing beer.

"Mununshi used to be the largest employer in the district. It had over 400 workers but now it only has about 30 or 40 and they are not even getting any salaries worth talking about," he said.

Chongo said some people had opted to stop working because there was nothing to work for.

He said the current state of the banana scheme had negatively impacted on the economy of Mwense District as a large number of residents were jobless.

Chongo said the scheme if utilised properly had the potential to supply enough bananas to all the provinces in the country and that there would even be no need to import from South Africa as was the case currently.

Chongo said he had raised concerns on problems at Mununshi in Parliament but nothing tangible was done to change the status quo despite assurances from the government.

He urged the government to either buy back the banana scheme or sell it to a more serious investor.

And Chongo appealed to the Ministry of Education to assist Mwense High School procure a generator as it was experiencing massive load shedding.

"Boarding schools in the area have really been affected by the blackouts because I can say we experience load shedding almost five days out of seven days in a week," said Chongo.

Chongo said a generator would help pupils especially those in examination classes to study at night.