By DARLINGTON MWENDABAI
CHIEF Madzimawe of the Ngoni people says any member of Parliament who aspires to represent the people of Kasenengwa Constituency, which falls in his chiefdom, must have a heart for people and ability to foster development.
The traditional leader said in an interview in Chipata that developing a chiefdom requires concerted effort from stakeholders such as Government and MPs.
Last year, Chief Madzimawe banned the then Kasenengwa MP Victoria Kalima (MMD) from visiting the constituency for allegedly failing to meet the aspirations of the electorates.
Ms Kalima’s election as MP has been nullified by the Supreme Court on account of electoral malpractices.
“I do not want to dwell much on the failures of 2013. We want, for example, a down-to-earth MP and not one who is only interested in dishing out handouts. We want someone who is interested in lifting the aspirations of the people. Visiting the people is not enough,” he said.
The traditional leader said Eastern Province is interested in development issues and in particular his chiefdom wants to position itself for decentralisation.
He said Government wants chiefdoms to come up with a five-year developmental plan and his chiefdom has selected a committee to start looking at short-term goals.
He said the idea of the five-year development plans is to enable chiefdoms to come up with viable projects that will benefit local people.
Chief Madzimawe said so far, his subjects have identified bee-keeping as one project worth embarking on.
He said the chiefdom has started working on programmes aimed at improving the lives of the people.
These include a tree-planting exercise, which will start soon.
Chief Madzimawe has banned the distilling of kachasu, a highly potent local spirit, which he says is a health hazard and retards development.
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