Maravi

UPND sides with govt on Sinjembela development

UPND sides with govt on Sinjembela development
By Roy Habalu
Sat 08 Sep. 2012, 10:20 CAT

Sinjembela UPND member of parliament Njeulu Poniso says it is retrogressive for the opposition not to work with the government. And transport, works, supply and communication deputy minister Colonel Panji Kaunda has ordered the demolition of the district commissioners' office that houses other government departments, saying it was poorly done.

During a conducted tour of the new Shang'ombo district hospital scheduled to be handed over to the government at the end of September Poniso, who accompanied Col Panji said he would continue working with the government to ensure development of the people, adding that constant criticism by the opposition on the government's performance would retard development.

Poniso also said the roads in his constituency were pathetic and required the government to work on upgrading them.

The MP then embraced Kaunda and thanked the government for consistently sending ministers to remote areas of the province to see how people were living.

"Our common goal is to see that people develop and that infrastructures are constructed. I belong to government because I am a legislator, so all of us are government because when we see government officers coming, we need to work together. That's why we are appealing to government to quickly come and look at our problems. We cried and now we have a post office constructed, so we want them to come and construct houses. You can't commission a post office without houses; where will the post master stay?" he said.

"We have to partner because at the end of the day all of us will be praised because when I push government and they come through all of us will benefit. We in opposition advise government and if they get our advice they will have achieved what we told them and our people will benefit from that. Therefore there is no such thing as 'these are government officials and these are opposition'; we are all in government."

Earlier, Col Panji told Shang'ombo district commissioner Martin Mwauluka that works on his office were shoddy and that contractors should be recalled to reconstruct it to required standards, adding that it was this kind of negligence that was deterring the government from progression.

"The district commissioners' office must be pulled down. Why should we have such a poor structure between two modern structures? The magistrates' office and the post office are modern and then you have a ramshackle for the DC! It's useless, it must be pulled down; they just went to the archives and got what my father left. We can't have such a structure. This is what you find in Nyimba buildings that were left by Kenneth Kaunda," said Col Panji.

Meanwhile Poniso said that since two schools in Sinjembela have remained closed since January this year, teachers had subsequently been transferred to other schools.

"As I am talking to you, at Lupuka Basic School and Sinjembela Basic School, there is not even one teacher, so in terms of staffing levels, we have nothing and that's the biggest challenge. So as government employs new teachers, they should concentrate on rural areas. These schools have been closed since January and children are just staying at home," he said.

Labels: PANJI KAUNDA, UPND

posted by MrK @ 5:24 PM