Muchinga Province is one of the so-called Patriotic Front (PF) party’s bedrooms; it is a province that has given them almost 100 percent support in all the elections.
But this bedroom, like other bedrooms for PF, is not swept; there are cobwebs all over. I thought that Muchinga being a bedroom would be looked after properly by the PF. Alas, the province, like other rural provinces, is neglected and poverty is on the faces of its people.
I come from Chinsali in Muchinga Province, the famous PF bedroom. Every time I visit the province, I fail to understand how a neglected province like Muchinga can remain a bedroom of the ruling party. I know the PF supporters and government officials may argue that they have built Robert Makasa University in Muchinga Province. Yes, Robert Makasa University is in Chinsali, Muchinga Province but the project was not started by the PF; it was started by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). The University started by PF under Michael Sata, is Paul Bwembya Mushindo University, which is almost abandoned by the contractor because the new PF government has not been funding the project.
Now I hear the PF government wants to borrow money from China to build a new university in Luapula without first finishing the university projects it has already started such as Paul Bwembya Mushindo. This is wrong thinking and a bad way of doing things.
Under the new PF government, the promised Matumbo-Chama road has been abandoned; only 80 kilometres have been done. Since Mr Sata’s death, the road project has been abandoned. The new PF government has started new road projects in other parts of the county without first finishing the road projects started by the late president. The reasoning behind abandoning most of the projects started by Mr Sata is only known to the new PF leadership.
In the PF’s bedroom, Muchinga Province, in Mpika, Shiwan’gandu, Chinsali, Isoka, Nakonde, Mafinga, Chama and other new districts, no new secondary school has been built. Even the promised Matumbo Technical Secondary School has not been constructed; the contractor has not been identified. Currently, Muchinga Province has probably less than eight boarding secondary schools.
The PF may argue and say that as a party in government it has turned so many basic schools into day secondary schools. Turning of a primary or basic school into a secondary school without upgrading its infrastructure is illogical. The PF government turned many primary schools in Muchinga Province into secondary schools without corresponding changes in the infrastructure. This is a mockery. No quality secondary education can be provided in buildings meant for primary education. The PF government turned schools such as Ilondola, Katibunga, Lwanya, Musakanya, Konja Basic and other primary schools into day secondary schools, but without building more classrooms befitting the status of secondary schools. This is failure on the part of the PF government.
Old schools in Muchinga Province are neglected; they have not been repaired for long. For example, my former school, Mwalala Basic School in Chinsali district is in ruins; the school looks like a burrow for warthogs. The floors are completely gone and now the school is using mud as cement. The boards and desks are all damaged. Nothing sensible can now come out of such a school. The school administrators also seem not to care because there is no supervision from the District Education Board Secretary (DEBS’) office because often a time the office does not have transport. One may wish to donate to his/her former schools but how could one do so when the school administrators and government demonstrate high levels of negligence?
What about the township roads in Muchinga Province, are they good? The answer is a big NO. Even in the home town of Mr Sata, the founding father of PF, the roads are neglected. The only road PF will point at is the two-kilometre expansion of the Great North Road around Mpika Boma. The township roads are terrible in all the districts of Muchinga Province.
What I am saying is that there is serious neglect of the so-called PF bedroom. The only project completed in Muchinga Province is the police headquarters started by Mr Sata in Chinsali district. A specialised hospital in Chinsali is not yet completed; hopefully, it will be properly completed before it is opened.
As I conclude, I wish to say that it is shameful for the PF to continue claiming Muchinga Province to be its bedroom when the province is neglected. Our people in Muchinga and other provinces such as Luapula and Northern should realise that PF has no capacity to deliver the much-needed development. It is time for our people in Muchinga and other provinces to open their eyes and see that PF is a failed project.
I wish also to appeal to the people in Muchinga Province not to be incited by PF politicians to vote on tribal lines in 2021 because the ruling party has failed them. The advancement of Muchinga Province and other neglected provinces does not now lie in the hands of PF but the opposition political parties, hence the need to support them.
The author is a lecturer at the University of Zambia, department of Library and Information Science. Send your comment to: tuesdaybwalya1@gmail.com