NYIMBA’S EAGERNESS TO DEVELOP
...stands a greater chance of becoming a huge business town
NYIMBA
is of the towns looking to grow in Zambia. Located 340 km from Lusaka, Nyimba shares boundaries with Petauke in the east, Feira in the south, Mpika and Serenje in the north and also shares an international boundary with Mozambique.
With this central location, Nyimba stands a greater chance of becoming a huge business town. Additionally, owing to its vastness and presence of wild animals, Nyimba has that potential to add to Zambia’s tourism economic basket.
This however, may only be possible if the town is fully opened up through massive development ranging from a good road network and infrastructure to provision of various social amenities.
Nyimba Constituency Member of Parliament Olipa Phiri Mwansa is fully aware of this and is keen to develop the area. Motivated by the people’s eagerness to see development, Ms. Phiri, who is also Minister in the Office of the Vice President has drawn up plans to develop her constituency.
She believes the different communities from 15 wards within her constituency are fully committed to participate in various programmes to see a developed Nyimba.
The Zambia Women Parliamentary Caucus (ZWPC) working with Hivos, conducted a tour of the constituency in an effort to learn about a number of developmental projects that Hon. Phiri has embarked on.
From the 15 wards in the district, the tour showed that Ms Phiri has insisted on a balanced delivery of projects which she does with the councillors.
“My style of delivering development to my constituency is mainly dependent on working closely with the communities in different wards. We plan and prioritise our development according to the needs as you know Nyimba is a vast rural constituency,” said Ms Phiri in an interview after the tour of her constituency.
With the aim of making sure her development agenda is spread across her vast constituency, Ms Phiri has since emphasised on projects in Education, Health, Infrastructure, Roads, Empowerment and Agriculture.
As evidently seen from the tour, one project she embarked on in the early days of her election victory in 2016 was infrastructure development through the construction of bridges. This she saw as an immediate need especially that it was part of her campaign promises and one of the demands from the electorate.
The people called for the construction of bridges as most areas were constantly flooded and cut off from Nyimba town.
Against this background she lobbied for the construction of Kapakasa, Mpundwe and Mawanda-Ndake bridges through capital grants.
“Initially there was a small bridge that was dangerous and killed a lot of people,” remarked a resident of Nyimba in appreciating the construction of Kapakasa Bridge which connects Ngozi and Vizimumba wards via a road leading to the main market in Nyimba.
“It has helped a number of farmers, teachers and students. People are very happy because of this bridge,” he said.
Infrastructure development in Nyimba has also been seen through the improvement and construction of roads. Ms Phiri contends that the good road network boosts the economy. For this reason, she lobbied for the improvement of Chipembi-Utotwe Road where culverts and drainage were put under the Constituency Development Funds (CDF).
This important road, which was done side by side with the grading of township roads like Sichebende, has improved the economic lifestyle of the residents.
“Before this road was done, we used to ferry our goods using animal transport. It used to take us lots of hours to get to the main market. We thank the MP that now we can get to the market and deliver our farm goods in good time,” Ms Judith Tembo, a local resident said.
More township roads are now being worked on and also two big bridges along Utotwe Road have been constructed.
She has also lobbied for four other roads under World Bank and these are Nyimba to Luembe, Kampala to Mtilizi, Nyimba via Mwape Chiefdom to Petauke and Hofmayer road.
Added to the improvement of roads is the construction of the first-ever council library in the district. This, Ms Phiri says, came about in her quest to improve literacy levels in the area. She said it was also a need from the community to have a library which would also keep young people busy and away from mischief. The library was constructed under CDF.
Education is another priority issue on her developmental plan. Here, she has emphasised on the construction of schools and classroom blocks to enhance enrolments. Knowing that Nyimba is faced with the problem of child marriages, Ms Phiri has insisted on lobbying for more schools.
Through this, the constituency has seen the construction of Chinambi Day Secondary School in Chinambi ward, renovation of Mchimadzi and Kalambakuwa basic schools, as well as the construction of Nyatubanda Community School using CDF.
Using her personal resources, she has also supported education through donations. Because of this, Mayawa Primary School was rehabilitated and she also donated 20 iron sheets to see the completion of staff houses at the school. She extended this to Chinsimbwe where 40 iron sheets were donated for the completion of a classroom block. She also donated a block making machine and supported the labour for the moulding of blocks for the construction of Mwase Community School. This school was constructed with support from the World Bank which she lobbied for.
In the health sector, the commitment to offer development by Ms Phiri is as equally
balanced as is the case in the education sector. Here, she has lobbied for the construction of Mkopeka and Luangazi health centres through capital grants. She also initiated the rehabilitation of the kitchen at the local main hospital using CDF.
Interesting about the projects in health, was the construction of mothers’ shelters in Mkopeka, Nyimba, Chinambi and Kacholola. Here, Ms
Phiri realised the need to provide dignity to expectant mothers. With the increased population in Nyimba, rural health centres were perpetually congested with no shelters for mothers.
“We used to have a lot of deaths during child delivery. People were delivering from their homes. But we are happy for this shelter in Kacholola. It has created privacy and mothers can deliver in a safe manner,” said Ms Judith Tembo, a beneficiary.
One major project Ms Phiri is happy about and looking forward to completion in the health sector is the completion of Phase Two construction of a general hospital.
This project under a grant will be a huge boost to the sector as it will serve a population of close to 80, 000 people.
In the area of water and sanitation, Ms Phiri has always responded to the cries of the constituents in most wards which lack water.
“For a long time there has been a cry for water. This prompted her to find ways to provide water. In this way, 30 boreholes were sank in the district under a project from Ku
wait which shelobbied for,” said an official of the Resident Development Committee in Chiweza Ward.
“Sixteen boreholes were put in Chiweza ward which was one of the most affected. Elsewhere, these boreholes are placed in communities. Before they were put, people were using the same water sources as animals. The water problem here is now settled.”
Another resident from Silupisa Village expressed happiness at her work, saying, “We used to drink from the rivers together with the animals. We are happy that the MP helped us.” Being a cabinet minister, Ms Phiri uses her initiative to lobby for more support to her constituency from the Presidential
Initiative Funds. To this regard, she has boosted her empowerment programme in Nyimba.
Through the Presidential Initiative Funds, about 20 to 30 women and youth associations have been engaged in income-generating projects in poultry. Others have been provided with incubators and oil spellers to enhance their projects.
Knowing that a number of women are engaged into trade, Ms Phiri also insisted on the renovation of a market shelter in Nyimba to accelerate empowerment.
Ms Getrude Mumba, a marketeer, says the community is happy for the renovation and construction of the Nyimba market which was built under CDF.
Another market was also constructed in Katente while another is coming up in Ndake.
These new shelters have given an economic boost to the residents especially that the MP also empowers some women with funds for their businesses.
Development in Nyimba has also been seen progressing steadily due to the enhancement of communication. Seeing that communication is key to any development, Ms Phiri lobbied for the provision of six communication towers from the mobile network providers across the country.
One example is Vizimumba Ward Tower which has improved communication in Nyimba’s largest ward.
There is also a project of electrification of Luembe Chiefdom which is on course added to communication.
“People are now using phones and business has become easy. Theft has also been reduced due to the improvement in communication,” said a resident in Vizimumba ward in praising the MP.
With all the outlined projects, Ms Phiri is confident Nyimba will be one of the fastest growing towns to attract a number of economic activities. What motivates her the most is the people’s eagerness to work with her and develop the constituency.
“I will continue lobbying for the people of Nyimba. I am very happy with their support and commitment and I know, together we shall develop Nyimba,” said Ms Phiri.