KNOW YOUR MP: ATTRACTOR MALUNGO CHISANGANO (Pictures)

Attractor’s passion for service

-Single mother

-nutritionist

-politician

HER gender and the current political environment in the country have not stopped or dispirited her into ditching politics.

She has been in politics for some time now and has no thoughts of giving up no matter the circumstances.

Born on January 29, 1968 Attractor Malungo Chisangano is the current Gwembe Member of Parliament on the United Party for National Development (UPND) ticket.

Family

I am a single mother of four children, one male and three females. My husband died in 2005 and I have been taking care of the children all by myself since then.  My first child has got a Master’s degree in Economics, the second is an accountant, the third is a fourth-year law student while the fourth and last child is a third-year medical student.

I wanted to raise the children on my own and it was against this background that I could not remarry.

My children have been 100 percent supportive because they have always known me to be a fighter. They used to complain that I was rarely at home when they were young and have only come to terms with it after they grew up.

They help me a lot with my work and we work together most of the times. They are my assets.

Education and career

I have a degree in Public Health. I have got a nutrition background. It is against this background that I managed to interact with a lot of people from different backgrounds in different communities in different provinces.

I implemented various health, water and sanitation related projects with communities in different provinces. After having worked for a good number of years, I thought I could help the people where I come from so that they could also benefit from the experience I had acquired in this particular field.

When, how she joined politics

Looking at how interactive I was with the people on the ground, I developed interest to do politics. I started going to Gwembe [Valley] to meet headmen and influential people so that I could introduce myself and tell them my agenda of helping the people in the community.

I eventually found myself in the MMD which also happened to be my first party. I stood on the party’s ticket in 2011 but, unfortunately, could not go through.

This, however, could not discourage me because I knew that I would one day go through especially if God wanted me to lead.

A few months later, the MMD became disorganised and broke down forcing me to leave and looked for a party that I thought shared the same dreams as mine of helping people, and this party in the UPND.

I joined the party as a member and started identifying structures at district, provincial and national levels.

I was able to mix so well with the party members until I was successfully adopted to stand as area MP on the party’s ticket in 2016 and I won the seat.

Achievements

I managed to help in the installation of eight network towers of mobile network in addition to the already existing three in the area.

MTN connected most areas in April, 2019 and we have also seen Airtel coming in the constituency while CELZ has also opened network in some towers.

I can proudly boast that communication has become very easy, unlike the way it was in the past when people used to climb on top of trees just to find network.

I am always on the ground and able to interact well with the constituents. They have got faith in me and they help me by communicating with me what they would want to see in the area.

Challenges

Gwembe is one of the least developed areas in the country. Being an opposition MP, I find difficulties in developing the area because of a number of issues, one of them being the poor funding by Government.

Gwembe has got a lot of challenges and if funds were made available at the same time, we would do a lot in terms of development in the area.

We have so many projects such as the construction of schools, chiefs’ palaces and health posts lined up, but with the way funds are being allocated completing these projects will be a non-starter.

Plans

We have lined up a number of projects to be completed under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) where some of them are nearing completion.

We will in the first phase of the allocation build

three schools, build teachers’ houses and in the second phase want to put the roof of a school whose roof was blown away by the wind.

We also want to finish building the mortuary in Chief Chipepo’s area which has got a mission hospital that has not had had a mortuary for a long time now forcing people to bury their loved ones the same day. We also want to pick contractors to complete the maternity wing at Luponde Clinic as well as renovating the court in Chief Chipepo’s area that has been closed down due to its dilapidated state.

Aspirations

Given an opportunity, and if God allowed, I would like to go further with my political career. If God wants me to be a minister, who am I not to take it?

After all my interest is to serve the people of Gwembe and Zambia, in particular. We are here as servants of the people, and If they decide that we continue serving them you have to obey because they put you in that office after all.