Splitting south not a bother - UPND
THE opposition UPND is not bothered by suggestions to split Southern Province into two regions because the area will still remain its stronghold, party spokesperson Charles Kakoma has said.
Responding to Siavonga District Commissioner, Lovemore Kanyama who suggested that Southern Province be split into two, Mr Kakoma said in a telephone interview that the UPND would still control the area even if it was divided into two.
Mr Kakoma said advancing the necessary development would be better delivered to the area if it was split into two to reduce distances for supervision and reporting purposes did not hold water because development could still be delivered to the area without splitting the province.
He charged that the PF government was too broke to undertake such a huge task of dividing the province, adding that the new districts which the ruling party had recently created were still operating under trees because of lack of funding for infrastructure development.
''As a party we think that for now development can still be taken to the people without creating any new provinces or districts. As you can see, the newly created districts are operating under trees and therefore no need to start creating more because it's not adding anything value to the development of the country, "said Mr. Kakoma.
He claimed that the PF was under the false illusion that once Southern Province was partitioned, the ruling party would be able to penetrate the region politically a strategy he said was wrong for a democracy like Zambia.
''In PF's own imagination they think that when they split Southern province they will dislodge the UPND support base but they must understand that even if they subdivide southern province, the people in the area will still vote in the manner they want," he said.
He said some years back, the PF took Chirundu and ItezhiTezhi from Southern Province but the UPND still managed to win the elections in the two districts.
''The nation is aware that they took Chirundu and Itezhi-Tezhi from Southern Province but we still won by a very big margin,
Mr Kakoma has proposed for splitting of Southern province which he says twill result in massive development, job creation and accelerated service delivery to the people because distances for supervision and delivery of some services will be reduced.