. Yaluma

 By Chusa Sichone –

MALOLE Member of Parliament Christopher Yaluma has threatened to ban the consumption of some home made illicit alcoholic drinks in his constituency.
Addressing a meeting in Chifulo area on Thursday, Mr Yaluma noted with grave concern the high rate at which some people in Mungwi District were abusing alcohol such as Lutuku, Kanchina, Kamunsonsoshe and Tujilijili at the expense of exerting their energies on productive issues.
“Lutuku, I am going to ban it in Mungwi. There is a lot of Lutuku brewing and intake in the district and it is killing a lot of youths. It is causing a lot of harm to the bodies of those drinking it. Wasting your life just like that? That’s tantamount to suicide!” he said.
Mr Yaluma, who is also Mines, Energy and Water Development Minister, said alcohol abuse caused people to fight one another and the youth to drop out of school.
He implored the youth in Chifulo to concentrate on school rather than waste time on unproductive activities such as alcohol abuse, adding that in as much as much as he loved to promote football in his constituency, he would not condone young people who preferred the sport to education.
Mr Yaluma also warned parents who married off their underage children that they risked being arrested for that.
In wrapping up the tour of his constituency, Mr Yaluma told journalists in Kasama on Saturday that his observation was that his constituents still some what exaggerated expectations as it seemed that they were living in a “dream world”.
Mr Yaluma said the constituents needed to focus on the bigger picture to see what the Government was doing to develop the country.
“Their expectations must go beyond money, expecting money to go and drink beer. It’s nothing. They need to long for things like infrastructure which will make their livelihood easy and that will also be a channel to help them succeed in generating their own revenue in whatever they are doing, but this is not there.
“I think the onus is on the leadership within constituency from branch, ward up to district to educate the people and to align properly and prioritise their needs,” he said.
Mr Yaluma observed that campaigning had been commercialised and thus, there was a lot of expectation from people regarding which candidate dished out a lot of money, a mindset he said should be changed.
Mr Yaluma was in his constituency the whole of last week where he toured various projects besides making various donations, with the major one being a canter truck to Malole Constituency and a hammer mill to Champemfumu Home Based Care, the items he bought using his personal money.

Malole PF tips members

THE Patriotic Front (PF) leadership in Malole Constituency in Northern Province has urged its members to get the gifts being dished out by opposition political parties but should not vote for their candidates during elections.
PF Malole Constituency chairperson, Bwalya Bwikalo said he was aware of some individuals who were going round in areas like Chitimukulu, Muchaka and Chifulo trying to decampaign the area Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Yaluma and the Government as a whole.
Mr Bwikalo cited former Malole MP Emmanuel Munaile as one of those he accused of trying to decampaign the ruling party and its representatives in the area and yet he (Mr Munaile) allegedly did nothing worthy of praise while he served as area lawmaker for five years.
Mr Bwikalo told a gathering in Chitimukulu area not to believe the alleged falsehoods being peddled by the opposition about Mr Yaluma and the PF but that they should instead receive the gifts they were given while maintaining their allegiance to the ruling party.
“Are you sure you would accept to vote for HH (Hakainde Hichilema) here ignoring the work currently being spearheaded by President Michael Chilufya Sata, Mr Yaluma and the councillor?
“That man named Munaile. Mr Munaile wasted our five years, there is nothing he did here and when he saw that some other people were performing better than he did, he’s now coming back to say he could do better than them,” he said.
Mr Bwikalo also urged the party members to be telling the detractors that Malole Constituency belonged to the PF, which was delivering unprecedented development, citing the road works currently being undertaken.
Mr Bwikalo said Mr Yaluma had stood by his promises to lobby for more developmental projects which could be seen taking shape in the rural constituency.
“We have to cling on to Mr Yaluma because we have benefitted a lot from him. He even brought us a vehicle for the constituency. As for the detractors, they are just confusing the people but I know that you will not vote for them, just eat and get whatever they give you,” he said.
Mr Bwikalo also charged that the MMD, in which he served as councillor and mayor, was useless and finished and that was why he ditched the former ruling party.

‘Expedite Mungwi delimiting exercise’

A TRADITIONAL leader in Northern Province has appealed to relevant authorities to expedite the process of delimiting constituencies.
Headman Muchaka of Malole Constituency said in Mungwi District that some eligible voters in areas like Muchaka and Chifulo were discouraged to cast their ballots because they had to move long distances to get to the nearest polling station.
Addressing a gathering in Muchaka and Chifulo areas, Headman Muchaka appealed to Malole Constituency Member of Parliament Christopher Yaluma, who was present at both meetings, and the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to speed up the delimitation process so as to bring polling stations closer to the people in the said localities to avoid voter apathy.
“My earnest appeal is that a polling station is created in Muchaka and Chifulo because registered voters walk long distances to cast their votes. However, other registered voters decide not to vote because they are discouraged by the distant polling stations,” he said.
Officials from the ECZ were last week expected in Mungwi District to discuss the delimitation process with various stakeholders in the area.

RDA reprimanded on road ranking

MALOLE Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Yaluma has castigated the Road Development Agency (RDA) for allegedly not properly ranking roads to be worked on under the Link Zambia 8000 project.
Mr Yaluma said he expected RDA to have ranked the roads appropriately by looking at the extent of damage and economic importance.
He said the Nseluka-Makasa-Kayambi Road should have been put in the first phase instead of placing it in the third phase of the Link Zambia 8000 project.
Mr Yaluma, who is also Mines, Energy and Water Development Minister, led journalists, officials from RDA and Rural Electrification Authority (REA) to check on a stretch of about 57 kilometres of the Nseluka-Makasa-Kayambi Road in Mungwi District in Northern Province on Thursday, a drive which took slightly more than three hours.
Mr Yaluma wondered why the RDA had placed the “horrible” Nseluka-Makasa-Kayambi Road in the third phase while other roads in a less deplorable state in earlier phases.
“Some of the roads which you (RDA) have put on Link Zambia Phase One are better than this road by far, but then this road is so bad that nobody passes here and that’s why if you remember, I refused to bring my car on this road so that the local administration will understand how bad this road is,” he said.
Mr Yaluma said construction of the Nseluka-Makasa-Kayambi Road, which was of great economic importance to the people in the affected areas, had been delayed by one year and thus urged RDA to put in more effort so that works on the road could start soon.
The Nseluka-Makasa-Kayambi Road once constructed would provide a link to the Mbala-Nakonde, Mbesuma, Isoka and Chitimukulu roads besides helping farmers in Mungwi District to easily transport their crops to market places and woo investors to the area.
Mr Yaluma also bemoaned the “pathetic” condition in which the Mulama Bridge along the Nseluka-Makasa-Kayambi Road was. The bridge is also across the Chambeshi River.