Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:10:51 +0000
By OSCAR MALIPENGA in Luwingu
PARAMOUNT Chief Chitimukulu of the Bemba speaking people in Mungwi district has told President Edgar Lungu that cooperatives should not be receiving subsidized farming inputs and made to stand on their own.
And President Lungu has assured Paramount Chief Chitimukulu that government will not embark on new projects until those currently being constructed are completed.
Speaking when President Lungu paid a courtesy call on him, Chief Chitimukulu wondered whether cooperatives would be receiving farming inputs in perpetuity.
“Those cooperatives are they going to be receiving farming inputs for the rest of their lives?” The traditional leader asked President Lungu.
Earlier, the traditional leader told President Lungu that farmers in his chiefdom received the farming input subsidies very late despite having favourable rains and this might affect crop output.
Chief Chitimukulu also said his farmers had technical challenges in accessing the inputs using the E-voucher system.
He however said he was hopeful that the minister of agriculture Dora Siliya would improve the distribution of farming inputs during the next farming season.
He appealed to President Lungu to ensure that the farming inputs were delivered on time during the next farming season.
And the Head of State told the traditional leader that his administration was not going back to a one party state, adding the Patriotic Front (PF) and the traditional leaders were partners in development.
President Lungu said he was in Northern Province to thank the people who voted for the PF during the 2016 general elections and also inspect government projects.
He told the Paramount Chief that he would take advantage of his three days working visit in the province to listen to challenges which the traditional leaders were facing.
“Some issues we hear from Lusaka we hear from the media so I am here to get first had information,” he said.
President Lungu told the traditional leader that he will be in the Province until on Sunday after attending Easter Sunday mass in Kasama.
“We promised the people a lot of things during the campaigns but we need to rationalise the resources that we have because Zambia is too big,
“We need to build roads, schools and hospitals but we have to finish what is already being constructed,” he said.
President Lungu said he directed the minister of health, higher and general education during the last Cabinet not to embark on news projects until the old ones were completed.
