11 July 2009
FUNDS meant for the sinking of 40 boreholes in Masaiti District have vanished and the project has stalled.
Masaiti Member of Parliament (MP), Gladys Lundwe confirmed in an interview that the project had stalled due to alleged misappropriation of funds.
She said some money meant for sinking boreholes in Masaiti was misapplied by some Government officers who were tasked to carry out the project, and called on the law-enforcement wings to investigate the matter.
Ms Lundwe, who is Energy and Water Development deputy minister, said the Government would ensure that all the individuals linked to the misuse of the money were investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law. "It is sad that some Government workers have continued jeopardising some well-meaning programmes while some people in areas such as Nkulumashiba are forced to walk long distances to the river to fetch water," Ms Lundwe said.
A ward councillor from Masaiti, Dickson Siwila said 100 villagers from the area were planning to stage a peaceful protect over the failure to sink 40 boreholes in the area despite the Ministry of Energy releasing the funds for the project last year.
Mr Siwila said out of the 40 boreholes which were supposed to be sank under a project supervised by the department of water affairs, only four were sunk after the sinking and drilling was conducted.
"Boreholes were sunk in Kamisenga, Nkulumashiba and Malamba areas but people cannot access the water because hand pumps were not available," Mr Siwila said.
Copperbelt region head of the department of water affairs, Gwendolyn Nankamba said her office had not received any complaints from Masaiti over the stalled borehole-sinking project.
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