Communities in Rumphi West Constituency, through various village development committees, last week summoned their Member of Parliament (MP) Jacqueline Kouwenhoven to explain why it was “taking long” to implement development projects the legislator promised during campaign prior to the May 2014 elections.
Chief among the campaign promises were the construction of the abandoned Kamphenda Health Centre and the Rumphi-Nyika- Chitipa road which Kouwenhoven reportedly promised she would do on her own through donors she had personally identified.
However, speaking during an interface with the communities last week, the MP said it was not true that she had promised to macadamize the road arguing it was her campaign director that made the “unrealistic” pledge.
“This road project is a big headache. I never promised to construct the road because it is a government road and it would require a lot of money to do it. This promise was made my campaign director prior to the elections and I should take this opportunity to clarify that it is not possible to construct a government road like this using personal initiatives,” said Kouwenhoven, attracting murmurs of disapproval from the audience which argued the clarification was rather late as she had already benefited from the misunderstanding to win the election.
“I know someone wrote government that it [government] is blocking me from constructing the road. That is not true.”
She said government, through the Minister of Transport Francis Kasaila, promised it would carry out a feasibility study this year on the road which is expected to connect Chitipa and Rumphi and expose Nyika National Park to more tourism opportunities.
“What we can do is to wait as 2016 has just started. The same applies to the health centre project which government has promised to start construction works in June this year. If we do not see anything on the ground by that time, we can make further follow ups,” said the legislator through an interpreter.
Kamphenda Health Centre was abandoned at foundation level some years ago after the contractor was allegedly implicated in the Cashgate – a financial scandal that has seen billions of kwacha being pilfered in government ministries and departments. The development means communities in the area still have to rely on Mwazisi Clinic located some 15 kilometres away.
National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) District Civic Education Officer, Wallace Kudzala, said it was pleasing that the people have been to ask for a meeting with their MP.
“We encourage people to demand services and accountability from their leaders and duty-bearers. As Nice, we will continue facilitating such meetings because that is how we can promote democracy and transform our communities,” said Kudzala whose institution facilitated the interface with funding from the European Union
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