By CHUSA SICHONE in Shiwang’andu District –

President Lungu

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu is suspecting sabotage over the inertia to implement capital projects in Muchinga Province and has called for an emergency meeting over the matter at State House on Friday.
Mr Lungu has summoned the provincial leadership, which he said has disappointed him, as well as the ministries of Finance and Infrastructure Development to the meeting so as to streamline the funding of the projects.
The President reiterated his displeasure when he met Shiwang’andu traditional leaders and District Commissioner Evelyn Kangwa, saying that the only projects that has impressed him in Muchinga Province were the ongoing construction of the Mafinga District and Muyombe hospitals.
He said the Government’s agenda was to ensure that it delivered development to all parts of the country and that he did not want to see areas such as Muchinga,that massively voted for him to continue lagging behind in terms of development.
“For me, it’s worse because I got a lot of support from this region and when people hear that Lungu is working in Southern Province, Lungu is working in North-Western Province, they will think I have betrayed the people who voted for me,” President Lungu said.
“But that is the subject to discuss for another day. I have a duty to look after the entire country, but I cannot leave behind the people who voted for me and when the people who voted for me in their numbers are lagging behind, I have to find out, is it sabotage by the administration of resources or what is it?”
President Lungu reiterated his warning to the Muchinga Province leadership that there would come a point where he would part company with them if they did not pull up their socks.
The visibly annoyed President took to task Muchinga Province Minister Malozo Sichone and Shiwang’andu Member of Parliament Stephen Kampyongo to explain why works of the Matumbo police post and Matumbo Secondary School were not progressing since his last visit to Shiwang’andu about 10 months ago.
Mr Lungu said Shiwang’andu District was one of the areas that were close to his heart and so he did not expect it to continue lagging behind, especially that the area MP, who is Home Affairs Minister, claimed to be a man of action.
He was hopeful that he would find progress the next time he visited the province either in June or July.
Meanwhile, President Lungu assured that the e-voucher programme was here to stay and that some unscrupulous people were trying to frustrate the initiative so that the Government could revert to the old system, which some thieves used to steal money and inputs through ‘ghost’ farmers.
He said also that he would want as many farmers as possible, including traditional leaders, to be covered in the e-voucher programme.
Mr Kampyongo and Mr Sichone mainly attributed the sluggish pace at which the Government projects were moving to the bureaucracy involved in accessing funds, thus were in support of the decentralisation of activities.
Chief Chibesakunda, who spoke on behalf of chiefs Kabanda and Mukwikile were happy with ongoing development projects in the area, but were unhappy at the slow pace they were moving.
The chiefs itemised a number of requests in the health, education, agriculture and road sectors, among other areas.
They appealed to the President to facilitate that they were incorporated in the e-voucher programme as they had been left out.