‘Palace rehab flowing’

Sat, 10 Feb 2018 10:46:48 +0000

By ROGERS KALERO

CHIEFTAINESS Shimukunami of the Lamba people of Lufwanyama is impressed with progress made on rehabilitation of chiefs’ palaces in the area.

In an interview, Chieftainess Shimukunami said, apart from the palaces’ restoration, President Lungu had promised to resume construction of Kalulushi-Lufwanyama road, which had stalled for some time.

She said Mr. Lungu had demonstrated that he was a listening President who deserved support from majority Zambians.

“Challenges are many but as a nation, we need to work together to address them. For development programmes I can say we are impressed that there is progress on the rehabilitation of our palaces unlike previously.

“We were also concerned with the stalled construction of Kalulushi-Lufwanyama road. We brought the matter before President Lungu and he promised to send officers in the area. For sure, he sent officers and we hope the construction will resume soon,” Chieftainess Shimukunami said.

And Chieftainess Shimukunami has said the fight against early marriages and teenage pregnancies was still a big challenge, but was happy that sensitisation programmes were yielding positive results as some of his subjects were reporting such cases to her palace.

She said she was also happy that some of the children being forced into early marriages were reporting to her palace for appropriate action against the culprits.

“Certain things like teenage pregnancies are difficult to control because such things happen in the bush and so, by the time you realise it is too late; but we are trying to sensitise the teenagers to concentrate on education instead of sex.

“For early marriages, we have made strides in sensitising people because right now, they are reporting cases of early marriages to the palace. It is a challenge, but we are trying our best,” she said

Meanwhile, Lufwanyama District Commissioner Miniver Mutesa said the Patriotic Front government’s policy, under President Lungu, was to cooperate with traditional leaders in bringing development to the Zambian people. Ms Mutesa said traditional leaders had a critical role in providing leadership.

“We are of the firm belief that if traditional leaders join hands with the government, our people’s lives will greatly improve,” she said.