Maravi

Inonge blames MMD for poverty in WP
By Edwin Mbulo in Mulobezi
Sat 10 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT

THE relegation of Western Province into high levels of poverty by the MMD contributed to talks of secession, says Inonge Wina. And the Green Party says it will field Esau Mwanza, 65, in the Mulobezi parliamentary by-election.

In an interview, Wina, who is the PF's national chairperson, said soon after assuming office, President Michael Sata looked at a larger picture and introduced the Link Zambia 8000, which aims to have road networks across the entire nation.

"The MMD national development plans were just on paper. The implementations of the provisions of these plans were not put in place. This differentiates in the way we do business in PF. We are very pragmatic, we are also focusing on the whole country as our mandate, whereas the MMD was very choosy and relegated the Western Province in very high levels of poverty; not that other areas in this country are not in poverty but the CSO statistics show that the area is the worst. That is why there were sentiments of breakaway," Wina said.

She said President Sata was thinking beyond one or two provinces in the development agenda.

Wina, who is Mulobezi Constituency campaign manager, said Mulobezi district was very rich in agricultural and forestry products, which needed to be enhanced with good road networks.

Wina said the PF member of parliament would focus on infrastructure development.

And Peter Sinkamba, who is Green Party president, said Mulobezi Constituency was one area that had degenerated in human resource, infrastructure and social services and needed a member of parliament like Mwanza, who knew the problems affecting the area.

"There is a total mess in terms of health access and there is nothing the in PF that seems to mean well for the people. I have lived in Mulobezi in the 1970s up to the 1980s and I have seen it degenerate in terms of infrastructure and social services. The train was reliable at one point but now it take days to cover just 160 kilometers from Livingstone," said Sinkamba.

Labels: INONGE WINA, MMD, POVERTY, WESTERN PROVINCE

posted by MrK @ 2:44 PM