Thursday, November 28, 2024

The Forthcoming Milanzi Parliamentary By-Election

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By Henry Kyambalesa

It is unfortunate that our brothers and sisters in Milanzi constituency in Katete district will again be going to the polls to elect another Member of Parliament (MP) after the passing of their area MP, Mr. Reuben Chisanga-Banda, who had served his people for less than two years, just like his predecessor, the late Dr. Chosani Njobvu, who died in Slovenia where he had gone to attend the APC-EU joint parliamentary assembly in March 2008.

But while we await the announcement of the date for the by-election by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), I wish to urge candidates who are going to be fielded by their political parties to engage each other on issues rather than on personalities.

There are a lot of important projects and programs in Eastern Province which the candidates would do well to explain the role they would play in implementing them. Such projects and programs include the following:

(a) Maintenance of the just-completed Chipata-Mchinji railway line—a project initiated in 1982 as a joint venture involving Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique during the UNIP administration; and facilitation of the creation of the planned Shire-Zambezi Waterway designed to open up a cheap transport route for imports and exports by connecting Zambia to the Indian Ocean port of Chinde in Mozambique through the inland port of Njase on Shire River in Malawi.

(b) Construction of an international airport in Chipata district similar to the Chileka Airport in Blantyre in neigboring Malawi.

(c) Upgrading of both Chadiza and Nyimba clinics into district hospitals, and enhanced control of mosquito breeding throughout the province.

(d) Provision for the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation dams, canals, bridges, and trunk roads.

(e) Promotion of the small-scale mining industry through low-interest loans, and processing industries to process cotton, tobacco, sunflower, groundnuts, and other products within the province.

(f) Improvement of the availability of safe and clean water for both rural and urban areas through boreholes, dams, water pipes, and protected shallow wells, and provision of modern sewage facilities and both public and private conveniences.

(g) Upgrading of resettlement schemes in the province by providing financial and material resources for constructing and/or rehabilitating boreholes, water wells, irrigation dams and canals, feeder roads, culverts, low-cost houses, clinics, schools, police posts, and other essential public services and facilities. Such schemes include the Chipangali-Madziatuba, Chipangali-Rukuzye, and Petauke schemes.

(h) Improvements in conditions of service for healthcare personnel, employment of more healthcare personnel, and ensuring that healthcare facilities throughout the province have adequate stocks of medicines and medical supplies and equipment regardless of whether they are operated by missionaries or the government—including the Mwami Mission Hospital, Lundazi District Hospital, Kamoto Mission Hospital, Nyimba Hospital, Minga Mission Hospital, Njanje Hospital, Petauke Hospital, Chipata General Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and all rural heatlth centres.

(i) Construction of more educational and training institutions in the province and rehabilitation of existing institutions in order to make it possible for each and every child in the province to have access to education near their homes in all the districts—that is, in Chadiza, Chama, Chipata, Katete, Lundazi, Mambwe, Nyimba, and Petauke districts.

(j) Addressing the problems facing educational and training institutions in the province, including the lack of teachers, housing, educational supplies and equipment, inadequate salaries and allowances, and entertainment at all the educational and training institutions.

(k) Ensuring that salaries and allowances are timely disbursed to all the districts so that teachers and other civil servants will not have to trek to designated locations to pick up their money only to be told that their dues are not yet available.

These kinds of projects and programs can be funded through financial and material resources which could be saved by getting rid of top-level sinecures in government, merging some of the government ministries and agencies which have similar functions, reducing the number of foreign missions, reduction in the number of foreign trips, and so forth.

Similar projects and programs nationwide can be funded by creating a government that is smaller, a government that lives within its means, and a highly innovative government that would do more with less.

28 COMMENTS

  1. Very excellent: Without the National Development program and proper planning and expenditure, those will remain dreams. Rupiah your Brother is concretating on Castle and flying all over the world. I doubt Eastern Province has an economy to raise that money alone (Except NW and Copperbelt) and implemet those programs without national plan.. Get rid of Rupiah and try someone else like Mutati or Vote HakaSata, then you may achieve those goals

  2. Henry wonderful highlights but the quickest solution is to decentralise and allow devolution throughout the country.The facts you have put up are common every where that is why alternative govts-opposition need to tell the people of zambia their polices and what the stand to offer not just exchanging insults and watching pornograph

  3. By Henry Kyambalesa
    Dont mentioned project like that uko kusabaila. In zambia which single MP can achieve all those projects not even Vice President Constituency in Serenje can. Urge the Min of work and supply and other relevant Min and not an MP.

  4. sadly people in zambia never learn. almost all pf mps are useless apart from lubinda. people wanted change so bad they voted for a party and not the mp.
    so even the pact cannot change the country. only the people can. development starts at home. but development cannot be stopped, only retarded or hampered. look at lusaka. it is developing by itself. bit by bit zambia shall be saved. a leader can either be a catalyst or a hamper mechanism
    Sata has been in every govt. every govt. yet all u can say is he built houses in libala. didnt ftj build phi? which is better quality? didn kk build all the govt houses? didn mwanawasa give you arcades?

  5. If I was Henry, I would have suggested something more feasible and attainable than his glamorous spending spree that can land Eastern Province and Zambia in debt.

    Here is my proposal:

    1. Encourage and help in the formation of farming cooperatives which will operate in similar manner as corporations. These farming cooperatives will market farming products on behalf of farmers, advise and provide information to farmers on the prices of various farming products (e.g Price of Tobacco and expected demand, Price of Cotton and expected demand, Price of Maize and expected demand, etc). They will also use the collective pull of resources to provide farmers with farming inputs (e.g Fertilizer and tractors on schedule {i.e 2 farmers can share 1 tractor making the technology more…

  6. Good Morning

    Well, there’s a whole lot of development projects going on in the East. I agree with Henry when he says that the aspiring the candidates would do well to explain their role in implementing all these projects. It is important to ensure long-term orientation of all development projects around the country. Implementing is much better than imagining.

    PS. I must say I’m personally happy about the new feature LT has introduced – that way, ALL bloggers can now actively moderate the comments on this blog without complaints of being discriminated or singled out by LT. Maybe it will also save this good site from being turned into a graffiti wall for bragging and other personal issues of no relevance to the topics at hand. This is a giant step towards open democracy.

  7. Impressive but I will only restrict my comment on the PF-UPND PACT which is seemingly working to the advantage of president HH and mighty UPND’s popularity in Eastern Province.

    How I wish Dr Clive Chirwa can come back from London/UK to be UPND MP candidate for Milanzi Constituency so that he can make sure they is road safety in that area and drainages are put up to be a role model constituency in Zambia when they is right leadership. Such would help the mighty UPND gunner more support from the whole lot of Eastern Province when people there see the benefits of a good leadership in preparation for 2011 elections.

    Have a blessed day you all.
    __
    Matt 6: 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

  8. “The Forthcoming Milanzi Parliamentary By-Election”-(plagiarized By Henry Kyambalesa)

    I’m personally very disappointed to see that Henry Kyambalesa has wittingly with impunity plagiarized from the speech of President Banda he articulated at the burial site of late Honorable Chisanga Banda. I’m at pains to believe that Henry who runs an internet based political party and reads every news feed nefariously turned in for placement here a lifted article as own writing. Henry has not given credit to ZANIS or indeed the Zambia Daily Mail that carried this funeral message. Instead, he has lifted word for word and line for line for his weekly micro blogging. I challenge LT honchos to Turnitin [dot] com with any of the “iParadigms, LLC. Institutions”.

  9. Sata and his PF plagiarized their party manifesto from UNIP and here is this internet base Agenda for Zambia party President Henry Kyambalesa plagiarizing from President Rupiah Bwezani Banda’s funeral speech at late Honorable Chisanga Banda burial site in Katete.Is this the PACT culture or what? If it were a simple micro-blogger we would ignore it, but this behavior coming from Presidents of existing political parties aspiring to misrule our country is criminal.

  10. iye during my youth days i would have bin on the mmd bus headed for milanzi,ahh mmd eh party bane. chibuku mbwe, ama hule free, ahh eh party bane. i hope they win. deuces:)>-

  11. Senior Citizen, as usual you like accusing others of plagiarism. Give us the title of the speech or newspaper article from which Kayambalesa has lifted RB’s material, and we will google so that we can judge for ourselves. Alternatively, cut and paste the material on this blog. I do not think RB is capable of articulating the kinds of ideas Henry has presented in this article. Rise to this challenge so that we will trust you in your future accusations, Bwana Senior Citizen. I personally had access to RB’s speech during the burrial of the late Reuben Banda and do not remember the speech to have contained anything that is in this article. Again, rise to the challenge.

  12. Pepe Kale at #13: Senior Citizen is one crude liar; he enjoys making up things, the kind of lies RB would call “ubufi bwa kunya.” If you expect him to respond to your request, forget it because there is nothing out there that resembles what Kyambalesa has articulated. To Senior Citizen, anything that sounds too good must have been plagiarized from somewhere. I found the following concerning RB’s speech in Katete on the State House website: “President Banda bids farewell to late Milanzi MP,” February 9, 2010:

    “PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday led hundreds of mourners in paying their last respects to MMD Milanzi Member of Parliament (MP) Reuben Chisanga-Banda who died in Lusaka on Thursday. Burial took place at Kawaza Village in Milanzi Constituency in Katete …

  13. … President Banda, who was accompanied by First Lady Thandiwe Banda, said the death of Mr Banda was a big blow to the ruling party and the nation. He said it was sad that the constituency had lost two MPs within two years.

    The late MP was voted into office in June 2008 after the death of Chosani Njobvu, a UNIP member, who died while on parliamentary duties in Europe.

    The president said the death of Mr Banda brought sad memories to his political career because it reminded him of his late mother, Sara Zulu, and late president Levy Mwanawasa.

    “This makes this burial very painful, it brings a lot of sad memories. It reminds me of my late mother who was buried the same day when the late Mr Banda won the Milanzi Constituency parliamentary by-election …

  14. … “It was the last time I spoke to president Mwanawasa before he took off for Egypt where he collapsed and later died in France,” he said.

    Mr Banda advised the people of Milanzi Constituency to remain calm and work together until the Electoral Commission of Zambia announces the date for the by-election.

    Paramount Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi said he was saddened by the untimely death of the MP.

    He said Mr Banda did not have enough time to implement some development projects in his constituency.

    The traditional ruler, who was represented by his special induna Chikuta Mbewe, said it was sad that the people of Milanzi would have to go to the polls again …

  15. … Parliamentary deputy chief whip Humphrey Mwanza said the House would miss the mature contributions to debates from the late Mr Banda.

    Mr Mwanza, who led a delegation of MPs, said Mr Banda served on several committees in Parliament that included national security, foreign affairs and public accounts committee.

    MMD national chairperson, Micheal Mabenga said the ruling party had once again been disadvantaged by the death of Mr Banda, who was also MMD Eastern Province provincial secretary.

    The late MP is survived by a wife, Mary and five children.
    Meanwhile, the president returned to Lusaka yesterday after attending the burial of Mr Banda.

    The president who arrived at City Airport at 17:50 hours was accompanied by the First Lady, Thandiwe and some Cabinet ministers.”

  16. … So, the only words I see which Senior Citizen is alleging to have been plagiarized are the names and words like Milanzi constituency, Member of Parliament, Katete, Reuben Chisanga Banda, Chosani Njobvu, and by-election. ZANIS and Zambai Daily Mail would deny Senior Citizen’s allegations that their reports are plagiarized by Kyambalesa.

  17. Senior Citizen! Senior Citizen! Teka bola panshi we mwaume we! Fi pizza ulya ku Embassy could be affecting the functioning of your brains. I normally read articles on this web site without making any comments, but I think Senior Citizen has just gone way over board not to comment on his contributions. It is like S.C. does not understand the meaning of plagiarism; if he does, may be Kyambelesa must have had an affair with his wife or girlfriend and he wants to discredit him in the thoughts of other bloggers. Anyway, this article is a neutral one compared to some of Henery’s other articles which have appeared on this web site, which are targetted at George Kunda, Rupiah Banda, and a few other notables in the MMD government.

  18. Henry Kyambalesa like Sata who has a plagiarized PF manifesto from UNIP, has plagiarized this article from President Banda’s speech in Mukaika following the burrial of Hon CB. I challenge his self appointed disciples here to copy this article and turnitIn, it will track changes with 67% plagiarism.If he has gained any grain of integrity since his failed Village concept he shoved on Brig.Gen.Miyanda’s HP, as a Presidential candidate Henry must renounce his shameful behavior of plagiarism unless like Sata he has no conscious.

  19. Surprise, surprise … after doing a google on the author, I have found that 4/5 of the material in this story is actually adapted from the Agenda for Change (AfC) party’s website. So, I don’t know what the Senior Citizen is talking about.

  20. Copy the article and post it in turnitin [dot] com. It will return 67% rate plagiarized material.Now i understand why colleges have kept firing Kyambalesa. Despite being in the USA for many years, he has had no work history or job security of tenure to talk about other than running an internet party through blog posts.I think the issue of plagiarism has been his biggest liability as you know in the USA system is intolerable.

  21. Senior fimo fimo, you are often in the habit of cutting and pasting on blogs, why can’t you just do the same for this particular story? You are now giving us a task to look for what you are alleging to be plagiarized material? Even your claims that Kayembalesa has been fired by colleges without giving names of the colleges must be false; if it is true, mention the colleges. Like I said earlier, I have found out that the material in the story above is mainly from AfC party’s manifesto. Check the party’s manifesto and go to the mirror to condemn yourself. You claimed the material was plagiarized from a speech by RB … prove it to us; we are waiting. You must be possessed by the devil to try to demonize other citizens. You are just too old to be engaging in such transparent lies.

  22. it sad that the upnd have been campaigning in milanzi way before the unfortunate death of the mp. it is really sad that politicians should engage themselves in such activities for political expediency. this how desparate some political parties are to get into state house.they new this man was sick and started campaigning well beofre his death.

  23. Senior Citizen’s allegation of plagiarism sounds bizarre; even if the material in the story is actually plagiarized from articles by ZANIS or Zambia Daily Mail, why of all the people in this wide world would a U.S.-based good-for-nothing thug find it necessary to take up the issue rather than the people who he says wrote the articles? Recently, Michael Sata warned critics of the MMD and its leaders to be very careful because some of them might disappear mysteriously before the 2011 elections; what a timely warning!

  24. I have just googled the author, Kyambalesa, and much of what I have discovered are his published books. I don’t know how many books or articles Rupiah Banda has published in his entire life, but I very much doubt that this accomplished author can plagiarize a speech by Banda in the one-page story above. And does a citizen have to have a work history or job security to be in good standing? Strange thinking! Senior Citizen must have been tasked by the MMD to engage in a smear campaign against selected Zambian citizens. He once alleged that my wife was a spy simply because she is a foreigner, which qualifies as defamation of character! Lock your doors tightly at night guys, the MMD will start chopping off your heads soon.

  25. For some time now, I have been reading comments by Veteran (Senior Citizen) and the other MMD bootlicker who is based at the Zambian mission in S. Africa that Kyambalesa is president of an Internet-based party. I thought they were just teasing the former CBU lecturer until I googled the party’s name after reading Veteran’s allegations of plagiarism. Boy, the Agenda for Change has the most elaborate Manifesto I have ever come across! I found the material in the article above on pages 79 through 84 of the Manifesto. I’m still skimming through it, though. But I keep wondering why Veteran is claiming that the material was plagiarized from Rupiah’s speech at a burial (or funeral), which is not the right place to discuss projects and programs.

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