Kabwila tells Malawi Parliament most constituencies affected by water scarcity

Member of Parliament for Salima North West Constituency, Dr Jessie Kabwila on Monday expressed concern that water crisis remains a big challenge in most constituencies in Malawi.

Kabwila said this during government business in Parliament Monday when she was reacting to the mid-year Budget Review Motion of the performance budget for 2017/18 financial year.

She said her constituency faces two major problems, among them, serious water challenge which needed government intervention.

She said what really touched her was that when she goes to her constituency; people complain that since the creation of the earth the area has never seen a borehole.

“This is very crucial since water is the heart of every human being. Look now, there is cholera outbreak and when you tell them to go and wash their hands, the question is where will they find water?” wondered Kabwila.

She expressed worry with the situation, saying as a woman politician, what one says out there is that they can deliver but if what they are doing is not serving people’s lives by not providing water, it becomes pathetic.

“In Malawi, people cannot just say we will vote for a woman MP because she is a woman, but they want to see women delivering what they can deliver,” she said.

She explained that for people to find water in her constituency, they have to wake up 2:00am and travel about 20 km, saying the husbands suspect them that they are misbehaving.

In response, the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Goodall Gondwe conceded problems of water shortage in some parts of the country, saying if government was not doing anything it was because there was no money.

“A borehole costs about K3 million and each constituency needs about 100 boreholes which means each constituency will need a lot of money for boreholes only, yet each constituency requires hospitals and schools among other public utilities.

“We have to decide which the priority is, and it must be really a judgment of various constituencies,” said Gondwe.

However, Gondwe said there is a concern that in some district councils, especially district health offices that the money they received in the 2017/2018 budget was drained up, which he suspects ended up into pockets.

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