By Staff Reporter
Barely a month after the Northern Region Water board (NRWB) announced their 2022 implementation plan of extending 25 kilometers of its main pipeline from Chintheche to Kande, MCP MP for the constituency Dr Zikhale Ng’oma has secured a partnership deal with another well wisher to fix about 80 sink boreholes in the areas of Traditional Authority (TA) Malengamzoma, Fukamapiri and Zilakoma in Nkhatabay district.
Faizal Abu and family have responded to an appeal made by member of Parliament for Nkhatabay south, Dr. Kenneth Zikhale Reeves Ng’oma to help the people of constituency with portable water after hundreds of years they have been consuming on river and lake water.
In an interview on Wednesday Dr.Zikhale Ng’oma said he is now happy that one of his campaign promises is being fulfilled. He promised the people in this area that once voted as their parliamentarian he will address the water problem which all his predecessors had failed to address.
“This has been my all time dream that the outstanding water challenge in my constituency will come to an end one day. I am very grateful that they elected me and their vote did not cast in vain. By the end of this year the whole constituency will be anointed with portable water,” said Zikhale.
He added that: “while the Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) comes into my rescue to have my constituency with piped water from a 25 kilometer stretch of their main pipeline from Chintheche to Kande by the end of this year, Pacific Boreholes is on the ground renovating about 80 sink boreholes across my constituency with funding from my Blantyre based development partners Faizal Abu and family to a tune of K20 million.”
Zikhale has further condemned ill comments by some people who have described the availability of government development partners; donors and sponsors in his constituency as unqualified reason to cerebrate. He said such comments are coming from people who do not understand how a legislator works and what are his roles?
While advising them to understand the roles of a legislator and its impact to government and donor initiated developments Zikhale has appealed to the people in his area to be united and have their focus on developing their areas when doors are wide open for them.
Meanwhile, team leader for Pacific Boreholes, a contractor which is renovating these sink boreholes, James Nsusa told Impact media that the project is expected to wind up in the next two weeks.
Nsusa has however applauded Dr. Zikhale for his warm welcome of this partner in his constituency describing him as man of focus. “We will be winding up this project in the next two weeks. We are covering the areas of TAs Fukamapiri, Malengamzoma and Zilakoma with 80 boreholes across the constituency up to the boundary with Dwambazi. However, I am very grateful to the MP for the warm welcome, he is a man of focus and we have agreed will his appeal that Pacific should only leave after all renovation works have finished,” he explained.
Some quarters have since welcomed the development approach which Dr.Zikhale is working on saying it is effective. Nkhatabay south constituency has had 4 members of Parliament since the dawn of the multiparty democracy for the past 27 years but barely a half way to his first five year term Dr.Zikhale has already made an impacting difference with his predecessors while he has just secured another solar electricity contractor to implement solar electricity to all the markets and along the main road across the constituency.
In his remarks with impact media in our earlier interview, councillor for Mbamba Ward Esau Chinyimba, said that water is life was mare rhetoric among many people from Nkhatabay south in memorial because for the people in his area water has been death sentence since they consumed raw and direct from the rivers and a lake.
He said this affected them negatively.
“We are all told that water is life but for the people of Nkhatabay South Constituency water is a death sentence because people in the area have been suffering from various waterborne diseases after consuming water direct from rivers and the lake,” he said.
Chinyimba said after hearing the news that this challenge will no longer be an issue people in the area are very grateful to Tonse government and to Dr Zikhale Ng’oma, for tirelessly working towards addressing these long overdue challenges.
The councillor further applauded the honourable member for his unending engagements with various development partners and service providers which has seen NRWB responding to bail the people of his constituency with portable water while UNICEF has also responded to renovated another borehole at Chifira Community Day Secondary School.
Source: Impact Media