By Times Reporter –

THE Government says the project to connect all districts in North-Western Province to the national electricity grid has reached an advanced stage and works will soon start.
Meanwhile, Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Deputy Minister John Kufuna says artistes and farmers should use traditional ceremonies to market their arts and produce.
Mr Kufuna assured during the Ntongo traditional ceremony of Chief Kizela in Mufumbwe on Saturday that Eltel, the project contractor, had already set up and mobilised materials in the district, earmarked as one of the first to be connected.
Mr Kufuna also said the contractor was mobilising equipment for the construction of 15.7 kilometres of Mufumbwe’s urban roads to bituminous standard.
Mr Kufuna said apart from helping to revive and preserve culture, traditional ceremonies served as a base for cultural tourism, promoting traditional artefacts that could generate income for local people, which was the message in the PF Government’s slogan of putting more money in the pockets.
He said ceremonies should also work to discourage scourges like tribalism, early marriages and gender-based violence.
Mr Kufuna said the Government had provided K990,000 for constructing classroom blocks and a house each at Kalende and Kaminzekenzeke Primary schools while works at the new Kalende Boarding Secondary School site had started.
He said three out of nine new health posts in Mufumbwe were already at slab level while the Zambia Army and Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit were assessing a crossing point on Musonweji River to build a bridge.
Mr Kufuna also announced at the ceremony, attended by area Member of Parliament Steven Masumba, provincial and   Cabinet      permanent   secretaries    Amos  Malupenga and Bert Mushala, respectively, that President Edgar Lungu had invited to State House North-Western chiefs, some of whom attended the event.
And Chief Kizela has commended President Lungu for promoting unity in the country through the ‘One Zambia, One Nation’ slogan.
In a speech read for him by chairperson of Ntongo ceremony organising committee Stalic Mwanaute, Chief Kizela also said President Lungu had shown his commitment to the development of North-Western Province with the launch of tarring of roads in the region during his recent visit.
Chief Kizela appealed to the Government to consider the resolution by chiefs in North-Western to shift the provincial centre to Mufumbwe.
He said he was not for the idea of giving part of Mufumbwe to Manyinga, a new district, but that a sub-boma be declared in Mufumbwe.