Governance Expert Macdonald Chipenzi has bemoaned the substandard of the Kkoma Primary School in Gwembe District Southern Province.
Mr Chipenzi said that it was a shame that in half a century of Zambia as an independent state, there are still grass thatched schools in the hinterlands despite huge sums of money that are wasted on wanton activities such as allowances, huge salaries for senior civil servant and subsidized living of ministers and Government officials.
Mr Chipenzi added that citizens in rural areas live in abject poverty begging for a bit of uplifting in their lives yet certain individuals are living a luxurious life using public resources.
Mr Chipenzi further stated that using makeshift pole and grass shades as schools is the most embarrassing thing in a country claiming to be rich in natural resources, where urban areas are displaying false national riches and high standards of living with a lot shopping malls.
Mr Chipenzi was reacting to Kkoma Primary school pictures recently taken by a Journalist in Southern Province and posted on social media platform.
Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) Southern Province Vice Information and Publicity Secretary Trymore Mwenda has said that Government has remarkably transformed the education sector as attested to the increasing provision of primary, Secondary and indeed tertiary institutions in Southern Province.
Mwenda stated that the transformation in the province regarding the education sector has taken place in the last five years of the PF under the late President Michael Sata and now his successor President Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
He noted that President Lungu has continued to reaffirm his Government’s commitment to improving the quality of education in Zambia by making resources available to the education sector.
Mwenda expressed happiness for the continued roll out of infrastructure development in the education sector through construction of new primary and secondary schools and upgrading of old ones in Southern Province.
He has since urged pupils in Southern Province to put education first in life so that they can become Teachers, Engineers, Ministers, and indeed Presidents among other careers.
I don’t subscribe to that drivel
Needless to stay macdonamd is no expert at all let alone Governance.
The weather in your country subscribes to some of the erected building in grass.
Thanks
BB2014,2016
I blame the area member of parliament. He could have done something to uplift the standard of these classrooms by using CDF. There’s need to audit how the CDF is spent in such areas.
This month has NOT been good to Zambia.
– 1st the football commentator broadcasts to the whole world that Zambia is a country ravaged by abject poverty.
– Then the small SOMALI refugee girl tells off Zambians that they have nothing, only maheu & boom which are actually made by foreigners (Trade-King indians). She adds salt to injury saying that Zambians are s3xually reckless, that’s why they have AIDS.
– To make the mattress wet, U20 loses to a 10-man Italy.
– Then KAGAME’S DAUGHTER tells Rwandan ladies not to copy Zambian women who are pathetic with their fake Brazilian Hairpieces, apply make-ups while looking for sponsors to give them money.
– As if this was not enough, 31 illegal CHINESE who were arrested for illegal mining operations are released by PF Govt even when we’ve…
CONT’D..
– As if this was not enough, 31 illegal CHINESE who were arrested for illegal mining operations are released by PF Govt even when we’ve been told that lungu can’t interfere with HH’s release.
– Photos of HH in jail sleeping on hard floor go viral. PF Cadre Judge Simusamba refuses to throw out HH’s fake treason case.
– To insult Zambian’s intelligence Chief Justice claims the rotten judiciary is independent. Dora’s Maize-gate scandal does not have merit.
Its tough to be a teacher there. Spending time thatching classrooms.
Now people, READ the response given by this Patriotic Front (PF) Southern Province Vice Information and Publicity Secretary Trymore Mwenda.
It’s indeed a shame. Instead of outlining what they will do to help Kkoma Primary school and such other schools in rural areas, he is boosting of all infrastructure that has been implemented last 5 years, is that what is going to help Kkoma Primary school?
Honestly, after 50 years, one would expect better structures and not thatched ones, what is the level of teachers at such schools? Those pupils are doomed without future, they end up as grade 7 failures.
Mr Chipenzi, it also surprises me. If you went to Mwandi in the same Constituency called Mwandi, there is a School called Mushukula Primary. This school was opened in October 1917. It will be a century old this coming October. IT IS STILL GRASS THATCHED AND HAS TWO MUDDY CLASSES. THE ONLY 1*2 BLOCK OF CLASS ROOMS WHICH ARE THERE, WERE BUILT BY MY UNCLE WHEN HE RETIRED FROM ZAMBEZI TEXTILES IN LIVINGSTONE! It is indeed shameful because some of the successive MPs to have passed there include Princess Nakatindi, her sister and the latest was Dr Kaingu who was also Minister of Education! However, I give credit to the current UPND MP Hon Soliloquy Mutaba because he is trying under very difficult conditions!
The UPND MP IS HON. SILILO MUTABA. SORRY FOR THE MISPELT FIRST NAME. MAY GOD BLESS AND GUIDE HIM.
You forgot to say you are a PHD holder.
@Mumbeti: I think you must be a retard for you’re claiming that Sililo is trying. Sililo is the worst mp Mwandi has ever produced….there’s nothing this guy is doing apart from hiding in his little courtyard. The guy is mentally bankrupt
its the people who live there that are dumb. If 100 years ago villagers build mission hospitals and schools that are still standing why can’t contemporary Zambians do the same or do you need colonialist supervision.
People must be responsible for their own communities!
Where is the MP for this area? He is the one to be raising these issues with the Central Government. It looks like the MP keeps his ass in Lusaka all the time and has never even visited his voters. What a shame. The Central Government cannot these projects if MP are not doing their job.
Africa certainly has enough money to build schools better than this. We find money for all sorts of things but not education, its a shame.Actually at rural costs once minister’s salary and allowances can build one classroom. Chipenzi is certainly right.
Chipenzi is not right. His people should know how to vote instead of voting for the one with the most cattle.
Chipenzi ought to do better than this, always going for the jugular vein of the PF government. All you need to do is mobilize local residents to renovate those grass thatched structures, you shouldn’t wait for government as there is a limit to what they can achieve in a given time frame.
The Central Government cannot fund these projects if MPs are not doing their job. I mean all MPs.
Reply
Why can’t Edgar Lungu sell the challenger jet and downgrade from the Mercedes limo to pay for better classes for such a poor school? Africa is all style and no substance.
Then you have lungu spending money trying to pull out of ICC while we still have such class rooms….
Mushota@1 when there’s a genuine concern that has been raised let’s learn to admit that there’s a problem in this country. Surely after more than 50 years of independence our children can be learning in such an environment!And you find that children at such schools do not even have school shoes, they walk barefooted. Who should feel most ashamed when such pictures are shown to the outside world? All of us know the answer.
I went to high school in South Africa and the thatched house classrooms are prominent.
I agree with you about going to school on bare feet but not the former
Thanks
BB2014,2016
Fake pictures.
keep being in denial PF cadre. Your government is full of useless clowns kissing foreigners butts while our people are left to suffer. Get out of here.
Where are the pupils in the pictures
Total de-centralisation of govt will deal with such issues. By taking govt to people’s doorsteps (which is what de-centralisation is), communities will be better equipped to manage their local affairs.
After all, no one understands the needs of a locality better than the locals. Whereas the central govt holds the bigger picture, the constituents hold the true picture. As such, local govts are the true eyes of the central govt.
With weak municipalities on the ground, the central govt will likewise have a weak vision as relates to the local needs. With the result that the remote or main govt ends up building a football field in an area lacking any medical facility.
So until the central govt strengthens the arm of the municipalities, service delivery will remain a big…
cont/-
So until the central govt strengthens the arm of the municipalities, service delivery will remain a big challenge. It makes no sense to have the First Lady’s Office funded more generously than the local govt.
respect the republican president of this country mr e chagwa lungu.
(1) is lungu the fist president of this country?
(2) why is it lungu to blame for this schools you id!ots?
(3) why did those other president before lungu did not upgrade those schools?
(4) oh you think that HH is the one who can do that bafikala?
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask
what you can do for your country,”
You are my best blogger of the Day. I hope you are the doer of what you have posted.Now, I promise God and you (@ The Binomial Expander) that i will live by the motto, “ask what you can do for your country.”
When commentators tell you how miserably poor and HIV-ravaged your country is, this is what they mean. Don’t take offence. Our people are so poor in their minds that they can’t build state-of-the-art grass-thatched structures, something animals are very good at. Man was created with creative power which Africans refuse to use. Even at government level, we are worse off thinking borrowing is what will bring economic salvation. We need to get out of this dependency syndrome as Africans and Zambians in particular!
THESE ARE THE ISSUES THE MPS FROM UPND ARE SUPPOSE TO ATTEND TO RATHER THAN FIGHTING THE GOVT DAY IN AND OUT WHILE PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING.
UPND MPS CAN NOT TAKE DEVELOPMENT TO THEIR ARES FOR FEAR THAT WHEN PEOPLE SEE DEVELOPMENT,THEY WILL START PRAISING THE GOVT AND LEAVE THEIR PARTY.
WHERE IS CDF AND HOW IS USED?WHO IS THE AREA MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN THIS CONSTITUENCY?
SHAME UPON YOU UPND MPS FROM SOUTHERN PROVINCE?
I thought MacDonald was a donkey and not a Chimpanzee? In the second picture I see a brick building with iron roofing sheets, do I take it that Chimpanzee or UPNDonkeys took some school desks from that building to some grass thatched huts in an abandoned village and took pictures in a fool.ish and misguided effort to embarrass the government? The targeted international will ask the questions:
1. If indeed the ravaged huts are class rooms what are the villagers doing about it?
2. So villagers in Gwembe do not know how to thatch their huts?
3. So in Gwenbe there is no proper grass?
4. If you read the history of that culture people are nomads and so do not build permanent structures even huts. They do not even build permanent burial sites, let alone pit latrines preferring the free airy…
They would rather beg!!
Donkey or Chimpanzee? In the second picture I see a brick building with iron roofing sheets, do I take it that some donkeys took some school desks from that building to some grass thatched huts in an abandoned village and took pictures in a fool.ish and misguided effort to embarrass the government? The targeted international will ask the questions:
1. If indeed the ravaged huts are class rooms what are the villagers doing about it?
2. So villagers in Gwembe do not know how to thatch their huts?
3. So in Gwenbe there is no proper grass?
4. If you read the history of some African cultures people are nomads and so do not build permanent structures even huts. They do not even build permanent burial sites, let alone pit latrines.
5. There are other rural areas in Zambia and other parts…
Is it Chimpanzee or Donkey? I thought that Chimpanzees are smarter than donkeys? Does he really expect me to buy such manufactured rubbish? Is he telling us that villagers in Gwembe cannot do simple tasks such as thatching their huts, churches or schools? Or even make mud bricks? He should visit other provinces and see how villagers there use natural resources to make their lives more bearable. I mean eastern, northern, muchinga, western, northwestern, central, lusaka, luapula, copperbelt, if you know what I mean.
Good article no chipenzi,
1. We blame politicians for not bring this to the attention of government, how many MPs and councilors have been in this constituency since in independence and how many gratuity paid to the mps.
2. All these years HH has not visited this school to help in his own capacity or he is waiting to became president of Zambian thus when the school can Ba attended to using GRZ money.
3. Blame the many constitution review commission and others commissions where moneys spent have been spent on.
4. Blame he civil servants, council secretary, district education secretary, DC, DA they have not been doing their work, they should have priorities this school, unless they don’t know its existence.
5. blame traditional leadership for not lobbying from government to have…
Where is the blood MP, can the President please look into this I left that place in 1979 this is shame, these under 5 are dangerous. Can someone please tell me the area MP
Leadership is guiding groups as groups solve common problems. Where leadership is good, solutions will be generated constantly and timely. It is clear from the pictures that leadership is missing at various levels. The first level is individual reporting. The manner in which MacDonald is reporting the problem lacks credibility. he is out to scandalize and sensationalize for self -aggrandizement. This is selfish. Secondly, the local community could gather around local leaders, including Head teacher, Head Man, Ward Chair Man, Branch Chair Man, Pastor, Catechist, Priest, reverend or Area MP. That is how a normal situation can be handled. When the local community fails to rise to the occasion, then it is hard for the bureaucrats in Lusaka to provide solutions.
Correctly observed Doc… Mr Chipenzi when he misappropriated funds at FODEP for personal campaigns to a known opposition party he never raised the issue and now that he was dropped by the donors, he’s now mascarading as an electrol expert while everyone in Zambia knows that he’s just pushing the agenda of misinformation about the country sponsored by UPND surrogates…
the picture i think were just taken on a weekend, i visited that area recently as well and soon that school, so the pictures are not fake!
Mr. Chipenzi, (an expert in governance) who then is to take up this task? Is it Chagwa Lungu or Area MP or Councilor or the community led by headman?
Dr Kasonde is right: The sight speaks of a community that lacks leadership at local level – from the householders, to the headmaster, to the headman, to the Councillor, to faith groups, to the the MP, to the DC, on and on and on. None whatsoever! The sheep simply wanders the pasture on its own.
Did someone say the school has trained teachers? I habour strong doubts.
Iwe Chipenzi. Please tell the truth about this school in your home village. Is it a Community School or a Government School?
If it is a Government School, then your MP is lazy and still living in denial that there is a Government in power in Zambia. Let him lobby with the Government and he will see what will happen. Even then, you mean the villagers expect the Government to ship grass to the area to replace the rotten ones Chipenzi is showing us?
If Chipenzi’s school is a Community School, them the guy should mobilize villagers to build this school. Chipenzi himself should lobby HH to release part of the Privatisation money and rebuild this Community school. He should also lobby with the area MP to use CDF and rebuild the school. Being a community school, let Chipenzi organise the…
Mr Chipenzi is part of the misinformation and propaganda wing of the UPND surrogates vigorously trying very hard to dent our country but will not manage because it’s the choice of Zambians who cast the votes and not disgruntled foreigners they are using…
Who is the Minister in Charge of education?….in the last 5 years
I disagree with those putting the blame on the community.We pay taxes and we have presidental appointees called District Commisioners who salaries can build a schools.Drop the DC and use the saved money to put up a proper structure.
Chip Enzo in exposing the selfishness in his PARTY UPND perharps he is eyeing the parliamentary seat in the area. He is well aware the the is unwritten law in southern not support the government of the day by bringing up developmental projects for CDF OR Possible funding from central government. When CDF comes they just share it in the party. I recently visited a family in one of the villages in monze district where I heard people saying we shall build school when he becomes president. We will not support any project by lung because of the sonta apo wabomba. They thing if they tell the pig government about school like the one in the picture, they will be giving lung a chance to go their and shout sonta apo wabonmba
When commentators tell you how miserably poor and HIV-ravaged your country is, this is what they mean. Don’t take offence. Our people are so poor in their minds that they can’t build state-of-the-art grass-thatched structures, something animals are very good at. Man was created with creative power which Africans refuse to use. Even at government level, we are worse off thinking borrowing is what will bring economic salvation. We need to get out of this dependency syndrome as Africans and Zambians in particular!
Am sure the area mp has got enough money to buy a few iron roofing sheets to cover this school
what does the name CHIPENZI mean? A POVERT STRIKEN THING (PERSON). A small comapny can fix this school. We should be ashamed of ourselves as Zambians. how much do we need to replace all that nonsenses with decent classrooms. Not more than $.5 million. How much does HH have? Mwandi is UPND teh? NAIMWE SONTANI.. One Zambia….
Why to kks
Ba Chipenzi you are the same people but yet you want to pretend. I doubt if you for one would deny getting those hefty allowances if paid to you, I wish you knew how God reacts to such stupidity. Mind your language and search you heart before you atter nonsense. Africa twasebana.
I will blame the community in this area and their parents. How can they let the situation escalate to such deplorable levels. if you see that nothing is being done by authorities, organise yourselves as parents/community and build classrooms using mud and grass, people can learn and become better. You can see that even the mud thatched class spaces have not be maintained in a long time.
I thought it was only in Malawi where one finds grass thatched schools after many years of independence. Resource distribution in Africa is not even. Elsewhere good things are in surplus while others are yawning for basics.
Guys don’t crack your heads. HH will fix the school when he is released from jail. After all those Tonga’s speak Tonga as their official language. Ecl dont waste any money on these donkeys. Why waste moneynon people who have never appreciated the pf government.