UPND Chawama aspiring candidate Nonde Sikasote says he will ensure a mortuary is built at Chawama Level One Hospital if elected.

Sikasote also says he will make sure that each ward in the constituency has a library to support learners.

Meanwhile, Sikasote has criticised past area members of parliament who were not living in Chawama, saying he will never shift from the constituency if elected.

Speaking during the launch of his manifesto, Sikasote said he had been frequenting the Level One hospital in the constituency and had identified the problems there.

“I was donating things at Chawama Level One, those who were there [know that] I donated things [such as] wheelchairs, beds and blankets. The reason is because we access healthcare from Chawama Level One. And those who stay here know how much we go through there. Immediately a person dies at Chawama Level One, you have to book a taxi, you book a canter and it’s between K700 and K1,000, to take a relative’s dead body to UTH because at Chawama Hospital we don’t have a mortuary. Am I lying? Now, immediately you take the body to UTH, most of us Christians, maybe it’s me, I have died, and you want to bring the body to UCZ Busokololo where I go, again you have to hire a canter or whatever means of transport to get the body from UTH to bring it back to Chawama, that’s not normal,” he said.

“The CDF component is there. A normal person, a normal Zambian, has an opportunity. Honestly, can you fail to reserve K600,000 or even K1 million just to build a mortuary and put a cold room there, so that people can stop going outside? You want to be crossing over when it’s time for elections and pretend that you love Chawama, this time when you come, you will find us with open Bibles. There are problems at Chawama Level One, if you don’t know, I was there last night and I was there last week, I keep on going there”.

Sikasote said if elected, he would work with the community to build libraries in all the wards.

“We are going to make sure that out of my manifesto, we have four wards in Chawama. In ward four, UPND produced a councillor and we are doing something there. Ward two, ward three, ward one, we are going to work as a community, I will not work alone. There is no one who can tell you that you can work alone. You have to work with the church, you have to work with the civil servants to upgrade the living standards of our people. Immediately I come, I’ll facilitate, using the CDF component, free markets, free education, to make sure that we have libraries. When we have libraries in each and every ward, it means that all our nieces, our nephews, our children who are going to school, they have to go back to the library. Immediately they come from school, they go to the library. So I will support free education, it’s not just about teachers,” Sikasote said.

“In Chawama we are going to make sure that no one is left behind, we shall identify each other. ‘Where do you come from?’ ‘Where do you stay?’ and when I’m employed I’ll stay within Chawama. Don’t we have nice housing in Chawama? So why run away from Chawama? In Chawama, stay with your people, in Chawama there are nice people. The President is Zambian, so also you are the MP for Chawama, you have to stay in Chawama”.

Sikasote said the constituency should have an MP who is a Chawama resident.

“What has motivated me and what has made me say that we should be fighting together from Chawama is because of selfish leadership from these people who always cross from Kafue Road or the railway line. Most of the candidates (MPs) that we’ve had before were coming either from the other side of Kafue Road or they crossed from the rail line. Is it because we don’t have leadership in Chawama, or are these the best MPs? If they are the best MPs, what have they done? Every person has an opportunity to do something and they did something, we have to appreciate them for whatever they did. We are not against them, we appreciate them. But we are saying from today going forward, we are going to produce an MP from Chawama. I don’t hate my brother Bright Nundwe, he’s my uncle, he’s my senior brother, unfortunately, he’s crossing the rail line from Silverest to come to Chawama,” said Sikasote.

“Does it mean that we don’t have people that can serve Chawama other than these people from the other side? I’m here not to talk against our leaders, I’m here to sell myself, to sell Chawama. From here, immediately we launch this campaign, I’m going to go flat out in churches, in branches and funerals. You will see me day and night because I stay here. Some two or three months ago we had a new MP, he never called for a consultative meeting, he never called to bring people together, ‘what is the problem?’ ‘What are we supposed to do?’ ‘What are the challenges?’ because the issue is he doesn’t understand what we go through. We want someone [who is] from here. Even you who is seated there, you have an opportunity. If you come here and you are from Chawama, I’ll support you, but if you come from outside Chawama, we shall fight you”.