. Lungu

By CHUSA SICHONE in Mpika –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has pledged to split the vast Mpika into three districts to speed up development.
He said Mpika was a vast district compared to the Copperbelt Province in land size, and that development was not being administered accordingly, hence the decision to demarcate it into three districts to accelerate the process.
Addressing a public rally at Muwele ground in Kanchibiya Constituency yesterday, President Lungu said he would engage Local Government and Housing Minister Stephen Kampyongo and technocrats to ensure that the demarcation process was properly done.
Mr Lungu said he would ensure that the three districts, once created, received a fair share of development in various sectors such as health, education and agriculture, as well as having police stations.
“We are going to create three districts out of Mpika to accelerate development because if you have three districts it means you will have three district hospitals, three post offices and three police stations.
“In case you don’t know, Mpika is very vast. Mpika District alone is bigger than Copperbelt Province. It is for this reason that to foster development here in Mpika, we want to demarcate Mpika District into three,” the Head of State said.
He further assured the people in Kanchibiya that a road to Mpika would be constructed, and health and education facilities erected.
He said the exisiting communication towers would be boosted and more installed to improve communication, while electricity would be connected to the area.
He implored the electorate in the area to vote for Patriotic Front (PF) parliamentary candidate Martin Malama, who is a former inspector general of police, for him to be reminding the Head of State about the pledges.
He said other PF candidates vying for various positions should also be voted for.
Paramount Chief Chitimukulu’s brother, Chanda Sosala appealed to the people in the area to turn up en masse on August 11 and give the PF 100 per cent votes, especially that its founder member Michael Sata hailed from Muchinga Province.
Former Football Association of Zambia president and soccer icon Kalusha Bwalya reiterated his support for President Lungu and the need for the electorate to give him a full five-year mandate as Head of State.
PF deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri urged the people in the area to shame those who branded the Bisa people as a minority tribe by ensuring that the ruling party bounced back into power by turning up in large numbers on polling day.
Ms Phiri said President Lungu had proved his critics wrong by appointing Bisas and Bembas to influential Government and party positions and yet his opponents were spreading falsehoods that he had sidelined the two tribes.
PF provincial chairperson Mwansa Kapeya assured that people in the province would give Mr Lungu and all the 10 parliamentary candidates 100 per cent votes.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has promised that the people who were sold TAZARA houses in 2004 would be offered title deeds and that those who retired would receive their terminal benefits the same year.
The Head of State further directed Mr Kampyongo to ensure that his ministry upgrades Mpika District Council into a municipal council.
Addressing a mammoth rally at new Mpika Market ground yesterday, Mr Lungu implored the electorate in Mpika to vote for the PF at all levels for the area to continue receiving development.