Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo says he practices politics of delivering promises made to the people as taught to him by late President Michael Sata.

Speaking when he addressed his constituents, the Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament noted that he has delivered on the promises he made to the people before the PF even clocks 10 years in office.

“That is the politics that our late President Michael Sata taught us; of making promises and fulfilling them. Politics of empty promises, we have passed that level. Is Shiwangandu still a constituency? It’s now a district. This work we have done in this area is not something small considering that we haven’t even clocked 10 years in power. Today when you go to Chinsali, cannot you compare it to the way it was, even buildings we are putting up, those are the ones you would only see when you go to Lusaka, even the hospitals we are putting up are the ones you used to follow in Lusaka, including universities,” Kampyongo said.

“I remember when I came here in 2011, I made some promises that we were going to do as a party once elected with President Sata…that’s where I want to start from so that even as you look at what the party has done, we are on the same page. I stood here, we had the first meeting at Lukalashi and I promised that as you vote for the PF, the Northern Province, of which we were part of with the Boma in Kasama, do you remember? I promised that when you vote for the PF, we will divide the Northern Province so that we can also have some development as Muchinga Province. People didn’t see any development in Chinsali but now it is the provincial capital of Muchinga with Shiwangandu now declared a district. When we just came, people thought I was making empty promises.”

And Kampyongo, who mostly spoke in Bemba, said education is important and urged parents to ensure their children are educated.

He said the government had made progress in developing school infrastructure in Muchinga and other areas to ensure easy access to education by children in rural areas.

“I was also educated in a school, right here in the village, at the Kenneth Kaunda school in Chinsali, the only school we had, but here I am, who can laugh at my mother now? Same as you, educate your children so that they can pull you out of poverty. These universities you are seeing, we want the school going children in this area to benefit from them, considering that they are our heirs. If a child completes his secondary education, and we are putting up a secondary school at Matumbo area, and at the boma, when they finish school, they will now proceed to our own local university and later work at our local clinics and health centres. That’s why we have built these things. Wouldn’t you feel proud to have our children educated and working for our Boma here? So your decision to vote for the PF should be something that will be a source of pride for you,” said Kampyongo.

“These young boys and girls, if we educate them, when you are sick and you find them at the hospital, just as they welcome you, you even begin to feel better and you are able to explain in your mother tongue and they translate it to English for you. As you say the pain is in the spine, she understands but if you are with one from Chipata, instead of the back, he will instead give you an injection in the knee because he doesn’t understand your language.”