Debates- Tuesday 2nd April, 2002

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DAILY PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE NINTH ASSEMBLY 

Tuesday, 2nd April, 2002

The House met at 1420 hours

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

NATIONAL ANTHEM

PRAYER

 

ANNOUNCEMENT

DEATH OF HON. GOODSON BRUWER MULILO, DEPUTY MINISTER OF WORKS AND SUPPLY AND MEMBER FOR LUFWANYAMA

Mr Speaker: I wish to acquaint the House with the fact already sadly known of the death of Hon. Goodson Bruwer Mulilo, MP, Lufwanyama Parliamentary Constituency and Deputy Minister of Works and Supply.

The Late Hon. Goodson Bruwer Mulilo, MP died at 1545 hours in the Intensive Care Unit of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, yesterday, Monday 1st April, 2002. The House will be represented at the burial by a delegation of hon. Members and members of staff.

I further wish to inform the House that in accordance with the practice of this House, His Honour the Vice-President will move a motion to enable the House pay its last respects to the late hon. Member of Parliament for Lufwanyama and Deputy Minister of Works and Supply at an appropriate time.

I thank you.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

[THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES in the
Chair]

VOTE 95/01 – (Eastern Province – K2,249,188,993).

(Consideration resumed)

Mrs R. C. Banda (Milanzi): Thank you very much, Mr Chairman, for allowing me to continue speaking from where I left last Thursday.

Sir, last Thursday, I was advancing a point reminding Hon. Sampa that the Great East Road does not end at Lundazi but Chama. The road is in a deplorable state. We thank the Government that the Great East Road has been repaired from 

Lusaka to Nyimba. However, from Nyimba to Chama, the road is in a deplorable state. I am, therefore, calling upon the Government to repair the road, at least, from Nyimba to Lundazi. Sir, this road from Lundazi to Chama has been in a deplorable state for thirty-eight years. Since independence, Chama District has not had any tarmac roads, which is very unfortunate, indeed.

Mr Chairman, when we speak about the Great East Road we also talk about feeder roads. We have Chadiza District which lies very far from the Great East Road. All the three ways are not tarmarked and it has been very difficult to access Chadiza District.

I would like to remind you, Sir, that in times of war like the past war, we were taught a very big lesson because movements were very difficult for our security officers. In fact, the Government of UNIP had the Tete/Katete Road upgraded to tarmac but that road has not been developed. It has a lot of potholes and even the bridges are being washed away because of soil erosion. Trees are growing on this road and yet, it was a very beautiful road when it was constructed. In fact, this road is deteriorating at a time when traffic is doubling and people are getting more civilised. 

I am requesting the Government that this road between Tete and Katete going to Beira on the Indian Ocean through the Republic of Mozambique be repaired so that we can benefit as a people. Even agriculture will flourish once more.

Sir, Shanida Border Post in Chadiza has no electricity. I am appealing to the Government that this border post can be electrified so that people’s morale can be boosted in terms of civilisation. Our friends across have electrified their border while we are still in the dark. So, the Government should look into this problem.

Sir, Eastern Province has got a lot of tourism potential in the Mambwe District. My colleague did allude to this during his maiden speech. The game reserve there is unreachable this time because the road is in a deplorable state. The airport is there but to access it, means you go by air. 

If an aircraft crashed there, to evacuate the people from there, you will not be able to get there, unless this road is repaired. So, it is very difficult, indeed. Let the Malambo Road not only be repaired but let it also be tarmarked to attract tourists from Malawi and other places.

Sir, even the road in Mfuwe needs to be repaired properly so that our ex-Presidents can have their holidays there and people will be attracted kuti that place is now good because former Presidents are having their holidays there, especially those presidents who come from Northern Province.

Mr President, Sir …

Laughter.

Mrs R. C. Banda: You are the president here, Mr Chairman. {mospagebreak}

Sir, the President in his speech and that of Hon. Kasonde, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, emphasised the point of damming rivers. Their emphasis was mainly on the Southern Province. I would like to ask the Government that when they look at Southern Province in terms of drought, they should look at the Eastern Province, too, because these two provinces seem to have the same weather patterns.

Equally, the Eastern Province is the breadbasket of this nation and, so, when they are talking of damming rivers in the Southern Province, they should also look at the Eastern Province because we are like twins. Please, hon. Minister of Agriculture look into this problem.

Mr Chairman, co-operatives were very strong in these two provinces. Instead of playing around with names, let us just go back to Eastern Co-operative Union, Southern Co-operative Union or district co-operative unions. The infrastructure is already there. If you want to change these names, it means we are going to waste a lot of time. 

Already, we are in April. By the time we get to May, June and July, we will be late. So, it is better that we go straight into those already established co-operatives - the ones, which were there before the MMD Government came to power. Those co-operatives are well established, not these ones which are just family groupings, but real co-operatives which will serve the people. It means that when you send the inputs, they will reach their intended targets.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs R. C. Banda: Still on co-operatives, Sir, I wish to talk about animals. In the Western Province, I understand they have lifted the ban on the movement of animals. Even in the Eastern Province, we have cattle which they have refused to move even to Lusaka. We wish to ask the Government that when they lift this ban on Western Province, they should also remove it from Eastern Province because when we go to Eastern Province we eat that meat and we do not die. So, they can also remove that ban on the Eastern Province.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs R. C. Banda: They must let our cattle move freely.

Mr Chairman, a nation without culture is dead.

Mr L. L. Phiri: Hear, hear! {mospagebreak}

Mrs R. C. Banda: We have tried our best to continue celebrating our heritage by way of traditional ceremonies. We have the Tubimba Ceremony of the Nsenga people; the N’cwala Ceremony of the Ng’oni people in Chipata; and the Kulamba Ceremony of the Chewa people in Katete, to mention but a few. But to sustain these has been very difficult. Therefore, the Government must work out a deliberate budgetary provision that these cultural activities be funded so that our culture is maintained. Otherwise, without that the nation is dead.

Mr. Chairman, I talked about deforestation in the area. It is not only millers in Katete but all over the Eastern Province and this must be looked into. That is why we have no rains in the Eastern Province. It is like Chitemene system in Kasama because we do not have trees in many areas.

Mr. Chairman, I wish to talk about food relief. This year, the hunger situation will be worse than ever before. It will be worse because of the situation that prevailed this season. Even the little fertiliser that MMD sent to Eastern Province intended for their party cadres did not reach the intended targets because Government officials …

Hon. Government Members: Aah!

Laughter.

Mrs R. C. Banda: … and District Administrators stole this fertiliser. I can confirm this by the announcement made by the District Administrator of Katete that 1,800 bags were stolen and in Nyimba 2,000, to mention but a few. So, this must be probed so that these thieves are brought to book. Even the relief food has found market elsewhere because these officials steal maize also. Even when they see people dying, they sell the food. 

So, let this be probed. This is a Government of Laws and not of men. Therefore, they should not murmur. Let these District Administrators be probed so that they are brought to book to ensure that food and farming inputs reach the intended targets.

Hon. Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

Mrs R. C. Banda: The Permanent Secretary for Eastern Province must also be removed.

The Chairman: Order! The hon. Member’s time has expired.

Mr L. L. Phiri (Chipangali): Thank you, Mr Chairman, for affording me this opportunity to …

Mr Sambwa: Hear, hear!

Mr L. L. Phiri: … talk of the richest province in this 
Eastern Province a lot. We are coming to you to share that two billion kwacha you got.

Laughter.

Mr L. L. Phiri: Mr Chairman, before I was interrupted, I I 
no, and therefore, you are divided. 

Interruptions.

Hon Government Member: You are very correct, boyi, go on.

Mr Sikatana: The second one is the question that has been raised by Hon Sichinga, which must be answered. Why is there a reduction in the debt service? We are saying every so often during the last year, there have been a number of debts that have been written off.  And you do not continue servicing a debt that has been written off. That is a reduction. 

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

Hon Opposition Members: Hear, hear!

The Chairman: Order!

May I put it this way, that tomorrow let the Government come up with the explanation for all these items.

Hon Opposition Members: Long live the Chair

The Chairman: Is that agreed? 

Hon Members: Yes! 

The Chairman: We will ask the Speaker to come and close the debate. 

The Chairman: Order! 

HOUSE RESUMED

[MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

The Chairman: Mr Speaker, I am sorry …

Laughter.

The Chairman: … to report to the House that the Committee has made no progress. All items lined for discussion this afternoon have been deferred.

Laughter.

MOTION

ADJOURNMENT

The Vice-President (Mr Kavindele): Mr Speaker, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

Question put and agreed to.

The House adjourned at 1911 hours until 1430 hours on Wednesday, 3rd April, 2002.