UNLOCKING CHIENGE’S POTENTIAL
CHIENGEis one of the country’s tourism destinations whose economic potential is yet to be fully unlocked.
Situated about 350 kilometres from Mansa, the Luapula Province administrative capital, and 1, 200 km from Lusaka, Chienge has great potential to contribute to the growth of the tourism sector as the district is home to the spectacular Lake Mweru.
Shared between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lake Mweru offers the luxurious long sandy beach which can become one of the country’s biggest and busiest tourism spots if its economic potential is fully explored.
Nevertheless, this has not been easily attainable because of some challenges like poor roads and lack of infrastructure.
It is against this background that Chienge Member of Parliament Given Katuta Mwelwa is determined to see that her constituency which has 13 wards is developed to a point of unlocking its full economic potential.
A recent tour to Chienge by the Zambia Women Parliamentary Caucus (ZPWC) sponsored by Hivos and aimed at profiling the developmental projects undertaken by Ms Katuta, who is Forum for Democracy and Development member showed she is focussed on improving the area.
Being the first-ever female MP in Chienge, and having had her family hailing from there, Ms Katuta has a pledge to see her constituency turn into an economic gem of Luapula Province.
From the time she assumed office, she has constantly lobbied for the upgrading of the Kashikishi-Chienge road.
“Initially the road was earmarked for the construction of a tarmac but due to delay arising from financial constraints, the government decided to work on the road to make it more passible and improved to an all-weather gravel road,” Ms Katuta says.
“We are waiting for the government to raise money for the tarmac next year.”
She adds that another road being worked on is Lambwe Chomba-Kaputa road.
“If only we can have a proper road network then we are done. Chienge can even feed the country because we have minerals, we’ve got salt, and we’ve got all the water bodies that you can think of.
“We can start aqua-culture farming. You can think of farming and agriculture because we have plenty of land, fertile land which requires less fertiliser,” she said, hoping that by early next year, the road-infrastructure will greatly improve.
In line with this call to improving roads in Chienge, Ms Katuta, using Community Development Funds (CDF), has worked closely with the council to acquire a grader that has been very useful in grading some feeder roads to enable farmers access markets. She says this move was motivated by the fact that there are a lot of farmers in the area who need to transport their produce.
Another area of development on her list has been to improve the health care and services in Chienge.
Through this, she has lobbied for the construction of health posts across the constituency. Under the government to government health programme, her constituency has six.
These are Kasase and Kamasansa in Luao Ward, Kanyangala in Chipamba Ward, Kalobwa in Kalobwa Ward, Mipa East in Chitutu Ward and Chilande Health Post in Kalungwishi Ward.
The health posts, some of which are nearing 100 percent comple tion came because she was concerned about several constituents walking long distances to access medical health.
Added to the government to government clinics is the construction of Mwabu Maternity Wing in Luao Ward.
“Initially the situation was bad in this ward. There was an urgent need for a maternity ward as the one we were using was too small and had no privacy. The MP responded to get a modern wing,” said Nanga Gift, a community health assistant at Mwabu Health Centre.
“We appreciate the MP for this new facility which once complete and operational will include Post natal, maternity and a waiting room.”
Additionally, Ms Katuta has used her own resources to support the health sector. One project she is happy about is the purchase of a generator to help Chienge District Hospital.
“I donated a 13 KV Generator Set to Chienge District Hospital. It was the first thing I did in 2016, now the hospital can keep bodies in the mortuary even when there is no power. Initially, they couldn’t because of the load-shedding,” she said, adding that she also donated a motor bike to the district medical office for the nutritionist to use as transport during outdoor activities. In education, Ms Katuta is specifically proud of the on-going construction of Katele Secondary School which is under phase two. It is a government project through the World Bank. This school is a sure promise of modernity to Chienge as it is set to have a boys’ ablution block, five staff houses, a home economics lab and an administration block.
With what has been already completed, the school is operational and according to Chienge Education Board Secretary, the school currently has a single stream of Grades 8 to 11.
Head teacher Ms Mirvis Nsokolo is happy to see this devel
opment saying it will improve girls’ enrolment in schools. She laments that in the past, most girls were being married off due to lack of schools. She believes this school will help motivate young girls to be enrolled and stay in school.
The MP is fully aware of the need to have girls stay in school. For this reason she further facilitated the construction of a girl’s dormitory at Lambwe Chomba School. One thing she is passionate about is the construction of a community school to support education.
“Lambe Community School is a school I am building through my own resources. I have donated cement in Chilimba where we did a (1 by 3) classroom block.
“And using CDF, we have a project at Kapampale, this year we got a (1 by 3) classroom block. This is highly appreciated by the ministry officials in Luapula because of its quality and unique design,” the MP says.
She also talks about Kalungwishi Boarding School that the government has done and how it has motivated learners in Chienge.
Added to this, Ms Katuta has sponsored about 300 students in terms of bursaries and she is happy most of them are graduates.
Away from education, she, like any other female parliamentarians has equally valued women empowerment. She strongly believes, empowering a woman means empowering
the entire constituency.
For this reason, she has worked very well with women groups especially in Mununga Ward where she has worked with the Twikatane Women’s Group as well as the Tushangile Women Group.
“We are looking at empowering women in farming. We have one group in Mununga that is doing poultry. I have youths who are doing farming. I have given some of them money to buy fertilisers. Other youths were given motor bikes for transporting people to raise funds for their school fees,” Ms Katuta said.
“We have a group of youths who have 15 hectares of land. They will be growing beans, we have the buyer already who has shown interest and he’s going to give them the seed and the fertiliser and later buy from them. This project starts this October.”
Ms Katuta is also working with women who want to diversify in agriculture by growing rice. She has also given some women sewing machines, to sew clothes for sale and she is speaking with various government ministries to
help the vulnerable.
Further, she has worked closely with the Mununga Market Association, promoting economic development in Chienge.
In all these projects, Ms Ka
tuta has uniquely created herself a platform to reach out to the people in the area. This is one notable venture she is proud of as she has opened up a radio station to serve as a means of interaction with her people.
This radio station, located in Kalungwishi Ward is called Kalungwishi Radio Station. It was set up by Ms Katuta upon realising there was no radio station in Chienge.
She uses the station for various developmental issues and programmes. Though initially established for her use, the station has now grown to full capacity and is benefitting the communities through adverts and disseminating of information.
It also provides employment to the locals and she plans to expand its frequency for a wider coverage. In this time of Covid-19 pandemic, the radio station has been very helpful to the constituents.
Furthermore, Ms Katuta is committed to playing a big role in tourism to fully open up Chienge. Trying to woo investors for tourism opportunities was one of her key messages in her campaign and she is looking at setting up a tourism village.
“When you look at the shores of Lake Mweru, there is a potential for the hospitality industry. In Kafulwe in Mununga, there is a place which we have picked, which we are going to call a ‘Cultural Village’ hotel. We want to work with the local people living there. It’s a beautiful concept that we have so that we can have some investors,” she says.
“We are going to use modern material to build this place but it will be in a form of a village. We are going to promote our tradition, our culture and also our food.”
With communication, infrastructure development, women empowerment and provision of decent education on her plate, Ms Katuta who is fondly called ‘Na Nyina, Mayo Mayo,’ in Chienge, is very certain her constituency is on the right path to unlock its potential.