Mystery over Khosolo’s K750 000 boat deal
Khosolo South councillor Hastings Chivundu has demanded answers over delays to buy a K750 000 boat intended to ease the hardship Kabuwa residents face when crossing Dwangwa River.
The allocation from 2015-16 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) offered a respite to the hard-to-reach population usually cut off during rainy season.
However, the locals blamed Mzimba South East legislator Rabson Chihaula Shaba (independent) for failing to provide the boat although the 2015-16 financial report for M’mbelwa District Council shows K850 000 was spent.
They suspect that it was misappropriated by go-betweens entrusted to procure the boat at Ngala in Karonga.
The councillor said preliminary investigations indicate that the money was misused by agents to whom the legislator Rabson Chihaula Shaba sent the money to buy the boat.
The community elected Kabuwa native Norman Chirwa to complete the deal, but the money was reportedly wired to group village head Chimulu.
“We are working hard to ensure that the K750 000 is reimbursed. We can buy a boat at K550 000, not as earlier stated.”
The boat will lessen the suffering of pregnant women, patients and traders who cross the wide river to get to Kabuwa Health Centre and Dwangwa Trading Centre.
In an interview, Shaba said: “All I can say is that community members in Kabuwa have agreed to pay for the boat and it will soon come at Dwangwa River.”
Khosolo Area Development Committee treasurer Solomon Banda called for thorough investigations. n
