Calls to divide Mzimba have re-emerged: MP Dimba says by splitting biggest district can solve some of the problems
Lilongwe South Parliamentarian, Peter Dimba, this week took Mzimba District Executive Committee (DEC) members by surprise as he asked them what was their opinion on whether the 10,430 square kilometer district should be divided or not.
Dimba said this at Mzimba boma when Parliamentary Joint Committee members visited M’mbelwa District Council to find out the council’s achievements and challenges as it delivered its services to the people in the district.
He was responding to challenges such as few ambulances to cater for distant places such as Kabuwa near Nkhotakota, Kanjuchi and Luwerezi.
During the meeting, MPs also learnt that very few trading centres were electrified in the district under Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (MAREP).
“DEC, as a technical arm of government can also come up with suggestions on how challenges facing the biggest district in the country can be overcome. By dividing such a district you can solve some of the problems the district is facing at present,” he explained.
All DEC members chose not to comment on the matter. However, M’mbelwa District Council Director of Planning and Development (DPD), Precious Kantsitsi who was representing the District Commissioner at the meeting, said DEC members were not supposed to give the merits of dividing the district.
The DPD said the district which is also referred to as Kingdom, belongs to the people of Mzimba and they are the ones who can decide whether to divide their district or not.
Kantsitsi said technically, the district was divided into two, Mzimba North and Mzimba South.
“For example there is District Education Manager [DEM] south; his office is at Mzimba Boma, while DEM North’s office is at Ekwendeni. DHO south is at Mzimba Boma while DHO north is in Mzuzu,” he explained.
In an interview with MANA, Dimba said big districts such as Mzimba and Lilongwe have to be divided in order to improve on service delivery.
He said for example, in a MAREP phase, only three trading centres can be electrified in a specific district regardless of its size. As result Mzimba and Lilongwe are treated like other small districts such as Neno.
Dimba extended his point to say if Machinga and Balaka was still one district, it would have few centres benefitting from the MAREP Programme. He said today Machinga benefits a lot because it is a stand-alone district.
However, responding to the call through telephone interview, Senior Chief Mpherembe said Dimba’s sentiments are just his personal opinion.
Paramount Chief M’mbelwa could not be reached for a comment.
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If dividing a jurisdiction brings development, let’s start by dividing Malawi. Malawi, a very small country by size, is the least developed in the world, despite being small. But in terms of economic demands, Malawi is too big to be managed under Lilongwe alone. The North needs to become a country on its own, with Mzuzu as its capital city and one of the region’s citizens as its president. Similarly the centre and south must become independent states, with their own parliaments and presidents. This way Malawi will develop faster and catch up or even overtake other countries. Bwanji pamenepa? If this is unacceptable, then leave Mzimba alone.
Dimba is very right in giving us his sober opinion. Those who have traveled around in this country will know that its only in Mzimba where you travel for more than 100km to visit the DCs office and thats ridiculous. How do you expect a person to travel from Luzi, Bwengu or Enukweni to Mzimba boma to claim deceased estates. If there are offices in Ekwendeni or Mzuzu to deal with that its because its to address that absurdity. Mzimba should be devided, Period.
Similary, some constituencies in this district are just too big both in geographical size and population, for example, Mzimba Solola constituency is bigger than Mwanza district, absurd.
Dimba is right!!!!!!!!!. If you say Mzimba is already divided technically, how come only three centres are electrified in Mzimba under MAREP each year and not six as should have been the case.
Pitani ku Neno mukaone, it was not the Neno you knew before it became a district. They have a district hospital of their own. DC and staff are there. They built Neno Secondary school, modern market, community college is also there, tarmac is on the pipeline.
Makani!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dimba is right. Wake up fellow Mzimba people this 21st century open your eyes.
Places like Mbalachanda, Madede, Bulala Mphelembe, Kammbanga, Kasalu, Mtende, Mzalangwe , Kapando , zowe, Chise`ngeze, manyamula have no any Tar marc roads. What the hell is it.
Whether 8kilometers only they deserve good roads. They also pay tax. We need Development in Malawi. People should not travell long distances to Meet the DC and other council authorities.
Please, my fellow Mzimba, dividing the boma is not the solution. There are better ways of development and management in the country.
Atumbuka mtundu wosamva, makani, chigololo, kuba, ufiti ndi kunyoza. Don’t waste your time giving them advise. they will not listen. Leave them because they are comfortable with the current development in their area.
Dimba, you need to understand that Mzimba has not developed because of jealousy and hypocrits and hypocrisy by you. Have you not noted that people in Mzimba have not developed because of people from the southern region. All money is going to ndata farm are you not aware are you really an MP. Shame on you ngati kwanu ndi Ku ndata district you have failed to divide Mzimba. You want to own land from ndata we will not just watch you
Dimba opinon is very genuine.Sober mind contribution need to be encouraged.
Dimba, go to Phalombe and appreciate that dividing a district on its own cannot help bring in development in the district.Remember that Phalombe was part of Mulanje before it was divided.But these two districts,the worst being Phalombe are miles and miles away from even sniffing any development.Phalombe residents since it was divided during Muluzi era have never seen a district hospital being constructed despite several calls and cries from the people of Phalombe-Migowi.The roads in the district are very poor and extremely bad.Phalombe as we speak is not even supposed to be called a district beacuse by all standards, it does not qualify.Yet this is the home of many Lhlomwes who thought by voting for their own blood, development will rain like manner.Malawians, wake up!
No good offices for Civil servants, police and Agriculture.Only those built and left by Kamuzu.Dividing a district alone is NOTHING my brother Dimba.
A Dimba mwachititsa manyazi apa. Development has nothing to do with dividing the district but in fact has to do with political will and commitment. The example you are citing I don’t think the way development issues are handled is fair. The formulae they use during the sharing of the so cited developments is not right. How can they distribute equally? This is shameful to those concerned, inclusive of you Mr Dimba. I feel the sharing should be proportional to the size of the district with some other constraints taken on board, eg terrain, population size and distribution, etc. Furthermore, considered also should be the distance between two major nearest hospitals in case of ambulances, eg districts with those far apart distances should be given more ambulances than those having the same close together. Providing the areas with good road infrastructure is another way forward. Look at Mzimba as a whole; very little good roads exist across the district. Therefore, even if you divide the district, still there will exist problems on provision of services. We can say a lot of things here but the main thing here is we need to have political will and commitment. So, Mr Dimba, don’t be myopic on these issues.
Dimba, please, keep in your lane of knowledge of democracy.
Since when was surface area, rather than population, the critical criterion for representation in a democracy? It is crucial that the principle of “Rep by Pop”, or representation by population, be embraced. Otherwise, you will be introducing just another avenue or channel of corruption in the local politics. We are already overflowing with corruption throughout this country.
If lack of development is your measure, then Neno and Phalombe should be divided. What do you say to that?
MP Dimba’s opinion is a serious one and meant to confuse people of Mzimba. Infact developmental projects do not come because of the size of the District. As he has rightly pointed out that some Govt job posts are duplicated, this serves it right comparing to the size of the District. Things are operational as normal and dividing the District now would be extremely expensive for this economically stripped Country. Dividing the District for the sake of MAREP of whatever you call it will not mean that the distances will be shortened or reduced, they will still remain the same. Here what is required is a National Development Plan and not District Development Plans. Development should not be dependant on the size of the District.
As for the Kingdom, it is just unthinkable for the chiefs to belong to any number of Districts you may think about. They belong to one Kingdom and one King, the Paramount Chief M’mbelwa. The owners are happy with that, enjoy it and are proud of it and would like it stay like that eternally. So please leave Mzimba alone.
Off course its his opinion but there is a substance in this opinion. Some things have to be left in the past if we want to develop. There are alot of merits if big districts are divided, the pipo benefit alot.
If we real ngonis says no to division then who is premature Dimbas in this nation?,Mr.Dimba such should exactly be hallucinations