Sinda constituency Independent member of parliament Masauso Tembo says he is not afraid of any aspirant who might contest his seat next year because he is confident of retaining it.

In an interview, Tembo said he remained confident of retaining his seat because he related well with the electorate and that he had fulfilled most of the campaign promises made in 2016.

“I am not scared of anyone in 2021 as it will be a whitewash because I have managed to stay well with the people, we have done most of the things we had promised in 2016 and whoever comes will have a hard ground to break,” Tembo said.

“When you are an MP, there shouldn’t be a difference in the way you treat people; live a simple life, open your ears to the advice of traditional leaders, the clergy and the public. I never changed against the people who employed me, I have continued respecting them and I will continue because those are my bosses who have the powers to choose leaders.”

When asked what specific promise he managed to fulfill, the parliamentarian, who is also known as ‘Kazungula,’ mentioned hospitals, boreholes and schools, among others.

“We have opened some clinics, we have rehabilitated and renovated some schools, construction of a new secondary school in Mng’omba, which will open soon; water points, including piped water in some areas and others that I can’t manage to list one by one. But I can assure you, we have at least done where we can stand boldly and said: ‘I did this, I did that’…” he replied.

He pointed out that he used his initiative to help expedite several infrastructure developments using personal resources during his tenure since 2016.

“If you want to succeed as an MP, be close to the government, move with it and also respect the people that elected you. Fight for their needs. I think you know we had a challenge in receiving CDF (Constituency Development Fund) for some time. But as a businessman, I had to take my personal money and offload it to the community because certain things that I can manage as an individual, I shouldn’t wait for government to do, that’s why certain things have been happening in Sinda,” Tembo explained.

He, however, called on government to release the 2019-2020 CDF to enable him work on some roads, which remained in a deplorable state.

“I request our government to give us 2019-2020 CDF so that we can be able to run here and there on these roads because most roads are not okay. For example, Chimusi Road, Old Police to Chitawe coming back to Mthunya and other roads need to be worked on before 2021,” observed Tembo who further said he enjoyed working under President Edgar Lungu’s administration despite being an Independent member of parliament.