Community members from four villages under group village headman Chaghama in the area of Paramount Chief Kyungu in Karonga Central constituency have called on government to open up the hard to reach area by rehabilitating the 13km Katili road to ease mobility.
Group village headman Cheghama made the call on Sunday in an interview during a door to door campaign the Mighty Tambala Graduates (MTG) North-North embarked on aimed at garnering support for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate Leonard Mwalwanda.
Cheghama noted that since the area does not have phone network connection, a number of expectant mothers lose their lives due to its bumpy geographical terrain as communication to call for an ambulance from Karonga District Hospital takes time.
He said: “We continue to lose lives due to poor road and phone network. Since Katili clinic does not have a maternity wing, we depend on either Lupembe or Karonga District hospital for maternity services which are far from here. And again, drinking water is a big challenge. Let government do the needful to its people.”
Echoing Cheghama’s sentiments, 71-year-old Roida Kanyimbo from Kazguli One village lamented long distances women walk to fetch water from unprotected sources.
She said: “We draw water from wells where cattle and wild animals also drink from. Let this this by-election remind duty bearers to consider us”.
In another interview, 81-one-year-old Wedson Luwe of Mwangwawira village, said he has waited for so long to witness the installation of electricity at Katili to ease maize milling challenges women go through as the only diesel propelled maize mill in the area operates three times a week.
“I will die a happy man to see women milling their maize freely and any time. This area has been neglected for so long. My plea to the new government is that they should expedite the processes of uplifting hard to reach areas such as Katili,” Luwe said.
Speaking on behalf of the MTG, the group’s executive member Pilirani Gondwe said as a grouping of the MCP wing they were compelled to hit the ground running and meet the ordinary voter to hear their development cries out and channel them to relevant authorities for action.
Said Gondwe: “We are quite satisfied with this feat. We mobilized our own resources to campaign for our candidate Leonard Mwalwanda in rural areas to appreciate challenges that these people are going through and we are hopeful that government will act on that so that a better Malawi for all slogan can be achieved.”
