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MP OF THE WEEK: Anthony Mwansa Kasandwe Bangweulu PF MP – Wants to improve the livelihood of the people

Written by Millennium on August 15, 2019

NOEL IYOMBWA writes

My names are Anthony Mwansa Kasandwe. I was born and bred in Samfya in Shindano village in a family of four boys of which I am the second born.

I am married with three children. My wife is a trained journalist who is running our private school.

EDUCATION AND CAREER

I did my lower primary school in Chelenge, upper school at Samfya primary and Samfya Secondary were I completed and enrolled at Saint Bonaventure University where they train would be priests where I did a three course in philosophy, but before that I went to St Josephs in Kalulushi for two years.

He then went to St Dominic’s Major seminary were I did theology and social sciences.

I also did my first level diploma at University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom in Business Administration and Project management. I am also a holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies

I have worked for a number of companies and civil societies sponsored by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), and many more.

I started contemplating to join politics in 2000 so in 2001 I applied as MP in Bangweulu but I was unsuccessful.

In 2006 I contested under United democratic Alliance (UDA) .We were five and I came second after that I went back to my job as a project coordinator for National Project for Poverty Reduction which was a PF NGO meant to train youths and women in various fields.

I have been trying until in 2015 unfortunately the then area MP Mr Chifita Mwatafwali died and I was considered under PF and I won elections to become Bangweulu MP.

WHY DID YOU JOIN POLITICS

During my engagements in my previous employment, I had privileges to travel so I saw how developed some countries are compared to my beautiful Zambia.

I was also thinking how I can contribute to my area where I grew up and wanted to transform Samfya and the PF manifesto did appeal to me to join politics because it was pro poor.

And having wanted to become a priest boosted my morals to join politics.

We have tourism sites in Samfya, God has given us natural resources but these natural resources are not improving people’s lives.

WHAT ARE YOUR ACHEVEMENTS AS AN MP?

As you may be aware many people have for many years depended on fish for their survival in Samfya but unfortunately fish is depleting in Lake Bangweulu so I thought of other avenues that can support people to earn income.

Samfya is the third poorest constituency according to World Bank report of 2015.

So we sat down other stakeholders and came up with Bangweulu integrated development plan from 2016 to 2020. In that we want to improve key sectors that will improve the lives of people.

We started with tourism, we want to make Samfya a number one tourism destination, and because once tourism is improved it can create employment. What do we do to unlock Samfya tourism potential?

We decided to remodel Samfya beach, so we made a proposal to raise funds to build a ten-kilometers beach and fortunately we were funded by Ministry of tourism.

The Ministry of Tourism gave us a K3.9 million to transform Samfya by improving the beach and putting up supporting infrastructure.

Apart from that, we annually hold the Kalindula festival which attracts artists from across the nation.

This cultural event attracts local and international tourists meaning that lodges, restaurants and other business houses will have business hence improving the income for the district.

We also looked at the education sector. In Samfya we only had 2 secondary schools in nine wards but in the next ten years each ward should have a secondary school, so that children don’t need to travel long distances for their education.

I am proud to announce that from 2015, six wards now have secondary schools and we are only remaining with three wards without schools.

In the area of health, out of the 25 health centres, we planned that each should have a modern maternity wing with water and flushing toilets to reduce mortality rate.

Since 2015, three maternity wings have been built, while others are under construction. Apart from that, we have divided wards into four zones, so that each zone can have a mini hospital.

WHAT IS YOUR DREAMFOR YOUR CONSTITUENY?

I want to transform the general outlook of Bangweulu constituency to improve the livelihood of the people.