• KWACHA Member of Parliament Bonnie Mutale points at a partially destroyed house in Ipusukilo Township.
Picture by MOFFAT CHAZINGWA.

By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –

TORRENTIAL rains in Kitwe have left more than 60 houses in Ipusukilo Township damaged throwing several families in the cold.
Kwacha constituency Member of Parliament (MP) Bonnie Mutale who toured the area yesterday found affected households living in partially collapsed houses.
Mr Mutale after inspecting some of the collapsed houses said there was need to help resettle the affected families.
“The first thing I want to do is to appeal to the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to help resettle these families before we lose life because the rains are continuing and to live in these partially collapsed houses is not safe for people,” Mr Mutale said.
He said from the assessment report, more than 60 households in Ipusukilo had their houses damaged due to heavy rains experienced recently.
Mr Mutale said of the affected households, some families had relocated while others were still occupying the partially collapsed houses because  they had nowhere else to go.
He appealed to Ipusukilo residents to consider constructing their houses with concrete blocks so as to prevent them from easily collapsing as the area was water logged.
“There is need for residents in future to use concrete or burnt bricks for their houses to stand heavy rains especially that this area is water logged,” he said.
And Mr Mutale took a swipe at the Kitwe City Council (KCC) over a recently constructed bridge which had collapsed due to heavy rains.
He said it was unacceptable for a bridge to collapse barely a year gone after it was constructed.
Mr Mutale said this was an indication of shoddy work and wondered why the council had allowed the contractor to go scot free.
He said the bridge in question, being referred to as Link bridge in Bulangililo area was constructed at a cost of K55, 000 using Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
“Government is working hard to take services to people and it is the responsibility of the council to ensure that the little money Government is releasing for development projects is put to good use,” he said.