By KETRA KALUNGA
IT is high time Members of Parliament for Kaputa and Chienge lobbied for a good road failure to which the people would give them a protest vote in the next general elections, Mwenya Musenge has warned.
Mr. Musenge who is former National Democratic Congress (NDC) president said if the MPs including Vice President, Mutale Nalumango fail to lobby for a good road network in the two districts before the 2026 general elections, they should not expect a vote.
He said in an interview that a good road infrastructure has for many years been the outcry of the people because the Chienge-Nchelenge road despite being an economical road has remained in a deplorable state.
Mr. Musenge said the road was of economic importance in terms of development and empowerment to the local farmers who have for years been getting a raw deal from the agricultural produce because of the bad state of the main road.
“It is long overdue and unacceptable that the people of Chienge and Kaputa should continue passing through untarred roads. If there is nothing happening in the next 2 years, the MPs should not expect a vote to come from those areas,” he said.
Mr. Musenge said the country was losing out on the rice that was being produced in Kaputa which was being smuggled to the Democratic Republic of Congo due to lack of a good road network to transport the produce for sale along the line of rail.
He feels that the rice produced in Kaputa district could contribute to reducing the price of mealie meal because it would compete favourably with maize as the staple food.
Mr. Musenge has since urged the government to improve such areas in terms of better roads to encourage the farmers to produce more and contribute to economic development.
