UPND HAS ABANDONED ME, CRIES MEMBER founder,

THE UPND leadership has abandoned me despite helping the party win council seats in Livingstone council , former Kazungula and Itezhi tezhi District Commissioner (DC) Mary Mukwiza has lamented.

Ms Mukwiza said that she had been living as a destitute and only surviving on well- wishers.

Speaking in Livingstone at the weekend when John Kapepe, a businessman, donated chicks and money to her, Ms Mukwiza said that out of all the people she has helped, not even a single individual knows where she stays.

“Yes, I am a politician and I am a former DC for Kazungula and Itezhi tezhi. In 2016, I helped some councillors in Livingstone as you can see I am

UPND. We put 16 councillors in the chambers, a mayor and an MP but today when you ask Mr Jere or Mapuwo where I stay, they don’t know my house.

“I worked very hard to put them where they are but they have forgotten about me... people you can work for them but when they get there, they push the ladder and don’t look back,” the emotional Mukwiza said.

Meanwhile, a gender activist in Livingstone has advised politicians in the country to look out for one another all the time and not only when they are in need of favours.

African Woman Foundation

Joseph Moyo, said politicians only cared for people who were around them in good time.

He observed that some politicians were living in squalor after leaving office and that their former colleagues could take time to visit those who were no longer in service.

Mr Moyo said politics should not divide citizens but instead bring them together and live as one people even after serving office.

He was speaking in Livingstone at the weekend. Mr Moyo said that it was unfair for politicians to value each other only when it was election campaign time.

He said that was for that reason his Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) was seeking to empower vulnerable women.

“One of the things we do is to sponsor young women to go to school and women who are in difficulties to help them become self-sustaining. It is unfair for politicians to only value each other once it is time for political campaign,” he said.

Mr Moyo was speaking in Livingstone when John Kapepe, a businessman, donated chicks and money to former Kazungula and Itezhi tezhi District Commissioner (DC) Mary Mukwiza.

“What Mr John Kapepe has done is to show people that there is life beyond politics. It is easy to solicit for votes but Mr Kapepe has come to help not for political purposes but render help. It’s my challenge to many politicians out there not to value human beings only for votes,” he said.

Mr Moyo’s NGO brought out the challenges the former DC was going through and has been helping her to become self-sustaining.

Ms Mukwiza served in the MMD Government before she joined the United Party for National Development (UPND).