Copperbelt Province Minister Elisha Matambo has said the UPND Government has fulfilled most of the promises it made to the people of Zambia prior to coming into power in 2021. Speaking in Ndola on Tuesday , Mr Matambo cited the recruitment of teachers and doctors as well as the introduction of free education as some of the achievements made by the UPND Government in nearly two years.
Mr. Matambo said there are several projects across the province and beyond being implemented using the expanded Constituency Development Fund (CDF). He said the New Dawn Government is also keen and determined to finish the delayed multimillion Kafulafulatu Water project that is expected to service Ndola, Luanshya, Masaiti and Mpongwe Districts. Mr. Matambo said President Hakainde Hichilema and his Government has been pragmatic.
“His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema has walked his talk. We have tried to follow his vision by creating an enabling environment on the Copperbelt so that investors are free to invest in our province without having sleepless nights that their money is unsafe. We are trying to maintain law and order, there is no cadrelism which we used to have. Copperbelt sometimes was referred to as Beirut (war zone) because of the violence which used to be here. This time around we have tried to maintain law and order so I think those who will come and invest in the Copperbelt they will be doing the right thing, they will reap what they will sow in terms of their investment. In terms of power (electricity) I am sure the people are happy with what his Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema and the team has done in terms of ending load shedding,” Mr. Matambo said.
He added that the Government has found money through Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit to fix sewer lines in Kitwe’s Kwacha Constituency and in the Kabushi Constituency of Ndola District. Mr. Matambo earlier officiated at a ground-breaking ceremony of over K3 million road rehabilitation project in Luanshya District. The poor state of many roads and bridges in Luanshya has been a thorn issue for many years.
“The road rehabilitation works is jointly financed by Luanshya Council and Luanshya Copper Mine and expected to create 50 direct and 100 indirect jobs. The road rehabilitation works will be done using pavers therefrom transferring skills to the youths.We were also happy to commission Roan Bridge across Luanshya stream funded by Road Development Agency (RDA) and Luanshya Council using locally generated income at a total cost of K2.6 million.We appealed to Luanshya residents to look after the infrastructure jealously.It was also remarkable to handover Newtown Police Post built by Luanshya Council using Ward Development Fund (WDF) amounting to over K400,000,” he said.
“We urged all stakeholders to support the police by ensuring that our men and women in uniforms receives necessary support. Other projects that we were privileged to commission are procurement of brand new garbage compactor at cost of K1.6 million and installation of 40 refuse bins done in conjunction with Luanshya Council and Engineering Institute of Zambia (EIZ) aimed at keeping Luanshya clean and green,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Matambo has warned Head-Teachers against misusing school grants meant to facilitate the provision of free education.
Mr. Matambo said he has received information indicating that some head teachers in the province are using school grants for personal activities. He said some school head-teachers have spent the grants on workshops and other unnecessary things.
“In some schools money has not been used according to the intended purposes. Some schools have spent money on workshops, traveling and other unnecessary things. I want to appeal to all the Head-Teachers on the Copperbelt Province, use that money according to the guidelines given. We don’t want to end up with situations where schools won’t have chalk because grants have been channeled to unnecessary things,” Mr. Matambo said.
Source: .lusakatimes
