Dowa youths angry with council over stadium fence

Concerned youths are angry with the Dowa District Council over delay to construct a fence around Dowa mini stadium.

The youth have since written a letter that has been addressed to District Commissioner Fannie Msimuko and the council’s chairperson, councillor Precious Chaguza Kambuzi with copies to all Members of Parliament, councillors and chiefs of the district including police Officer-in Charge.

The youths feel that the council is playing a hide and seek game, taking the youths in the district as not important.

They say all the protocols of contact and dialogue have been observed and what remains now is the action of anger to be displayed at the council offices.

In the letter dated 24th October, 2017 and signed by Chairperson of the grouping Saidi Black and Secretary Maria Thom, the youths have reminded the council that failure by to construct the stadium fence will lead to unspecified action.

The youths have in the statement said that the council has been deceiving them for years and count them as the useless citizens of the district saying time has now come to act as the two previous meetings with the council yielded nothing.

Speaking in an interview, the group’s chair, Saidi Black said the council assured the youths of the district that it will start constructing the stadium fence by 1st October, 2017 but the promise was not kept.

Black said the same assurance was made at a meeting with the MPs surrounding the stadium who promised them to cough out K40 million from their Constituency Development Fund to have the stadium fence constructed.

He said he was surprised after meeting one Member of Parliament Richard Chimwendo Banda who changed tune saying the fence would be constructed using locally generated revenues from the markets and shops.

He said it is for this reason that has made the youths of the district to come out in solidarity for their stadium fence to take unspecified action now.

Black reminded the council that even the former United Democratic Front led government Head of State, Dr. Bakili Muluzi, referred the people of Dowa as having the principles of “Wait and See” saying their waiting and see will now be unspecified actions.

He said the youths of Dowa are for peace and not destruction saying their unspecified action will spare shops and other business ventures but, the responsible people at the council secretariat will be targeted.

Black claimed that the youths of the district are walking in the footsteps of the country’s number one citizen, President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika who supports the youth development.

Dowa mini stadium brick wall fence construction was one of the priority projects to benefit from the 2015/16 Financial Year District Development Fund(DDF) alongside borehole drillings in the constituencies, upgrading of Dowa boma resthouse to a lodge and the urban structure Plan for Mponela and Dowa boma.