By ANDREW MUKOMA
LIVINGSTONE Member of Parliament Rodney Sikumba has assured residents of Freedom Ward that the new dawn government will ensure the Shungu Namutitima Secondary School whose works have stalled is completed.
Mr Sikumba, who is also Tourism Minister said that there is no way that works at the site which has exceeded 80 per cent can be stalled.
Speaking when he visited the construction site with District Commissioner Eunice Nawa and District Education Board Secretary Eden Kambunga on Sunday, Mr Sikumba said, he would engage Education Minister Douglas Siakalima to expedite the process towards the completion school.
“We took advantage to come to the site of the Shungu Namutitima Secondary School. It is a project under the ministry of Education, so as area member of parliament, I thought it was very important to come and check on the status of the project,” he said.
“Obviously this is from the backdrop that we are going to employ more teachers in the 2022 national budget and the whole idea is to see where these teachers are going to be fused in and also the importance that the new dawn government attaches to education.
Our key focus as government for the next five years is to ensure that we have universal education for our children and as such if you look at this structure which is here, it will be a great plus to Livingstone city because it will cater for the many children that are on the western side of Livingstone,” Mr Sikumba said.
“You know that there are a lot of schools on the eastern side of Livingstone but the population has grown more towards Kazungula and we are hoping to see how best we will do it. I am reliably told by the DEBS that this project is 80 per cent complete so there is no reason why we can’t have it completed,” he observed.
He added, “I will get in touch with my colleague almost immediately, Education Minister Douglas Siakalima who is a seasoned educationist to see how best we can expedite the process of getting this school completed and commissioned.”
Mr Sikumba noted that 2014 was a long time ago when the project started and up to now it has not been completed.
“And if this thing is not done within my tenure of office as area member of parliament, I will get continuous pressure from my people,” he said.
And Mr Eden Kambunga expressed happiness that the area member of parliament has pledged to add a voice to the pleas to have the school completed.
Mr Kambunga said that the issue of Shungu Namutitima Secondary School has been talked about for a long time but no tangible results have come through.
“We need access for our learners and if this school is completed at least we will have moved a mile,” he said.
