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Mulafulafu bemoans govt ‘absence’ in Chingombe

Mulafulafu bemoans govt ‘absence’ in Chingombe
By Bivan Saluseki in Luano Valley
Wed 09 June 2010, 04:30 CAT

CARITAS Zambia executive director Sam Mulafulafu has said the state is extremely absent in Luano’s Chingombe area.

Mulafulafu, who is in Chingombe area with Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) general secretary Fr Joe Komakoma and Pontifical Missionary Society (PMS) director Fr Bernard Zulu, yesterday said life in Chingombe centred around the Catholic mission only.

Recently, some local people in the area killed a doctor from the Zambia Flying Doctor Services (ZFDS). Mulafulafu said it was difficult to have law and order as the police were not in the vicinity and it would seem crime went unpunished.

“It’s Chingombe quite a challenging place but it’s just a few kilometres from other towns,” he said.

Despite the relatively short distance from Mkushi, it takes close to 10 hours to reach Luano Valley and rivers to Chingombe have no bridges.

Mulafulafu said the road to Chingombe through Mboroma was in a bad state.
“People are cut off during the rainy season,” he said.

Mulafulafu said despite the challenges, the local people were hard workers but had no access to markets.

“They are vulnerable to exploitation,” he said.

Mulafulafu said in terms of schools, the area was behind too.

“I don’t know whether the Ministry of Education pays attention to this,” he said.
Mulafulafu said the school has had no facelift and there was a critical shortage of teachers.

He said with such conditions, the performance of the children could not be expected to be good.

Mulafulafu said even when the pupils progressed to Grade 10, they were cut off from high schools because most of them, situated in Mkushi and Kapiri Mposhi, were day schools.

“They either have to have a relative to stay with or give up the opportunity,” he said.

Mulafulafu said the only health centre in the area was provided by the mission and supported by the ZFDS.

Labels: GOVERNANCE, SAM MULAFULAFU

posted by MrK @ 2:18 PM