Communities in Karonga have been urged to take ownership of development projects being implemented in their localities.
Karonga District Council Chairperson Harry Mwanyembe made the call on Friday when he presided over the hand-over ceremony of a school block at Mayibiyibi Community Day Secondary School in the area of traditional authority Kyungu.
The school block has been constructed using MK 10.6 million from the District Development Fund.
According to Mwanyembe, the communities through various committees have an important role to play in ensuring proper maintenance of the projects and safeguarding them from vandalism.
“The only way communities can prosper in their respective areas with the various developments that come is if they would take ownership of development projects and feel a sense of responsibility to take care of the infrastructures,” he said.
He therefore asked the communities to put a collective interest of their communities above personal interest saying doing so would promote and facilitate the decentralization process.
Turning to the construction of the block, the council chair commended the communities for taking time out to mould bricks and deliver sand at the site of the construction of the counselling block.
“The spirit and the passion that the community has shown to construct the block is remarkable as this has taken only 2 months to be constructed and the communities must be commended for their passion and we urge other communities to borrow a leaf from them in the future when similar projects come to their areas,” he explained.
Headteacher for the school Noel Sheya commended the district council for constructing the block at Mayibiyibi saying some students were learning under a tree.
“The new block will go a long way in helping us deliver quality education but we face challenges of inadequate desks hence we appeal for authorities to help us with desks as our children are learning on the floor.
Mayibiyibi community day secondary school was established in 2001 and currently has an enrolment of 150 pupils but due to its remote location and bad road network, pupils travel about 10km to access the school.
