Sikombe targets positive change

Written by on April 22, 2020

NOEL IYOMBWA writes

HAVING been born and bred in Lusaka’s Chawama area, Leonard Sikombe was inspired to join politics to take the lead in uplifting the quality of life in his neigbourhood.

The Chawama Ward Two councillor remains convinced that he is fulfilling his duty to the community by providing leadership and overcoming longstanding problems such as poor sanitation and urban poverty.

BRIEFLY TELLS ABOUT YOURSELF

My name is Leonard Sikombe, I am the area councilor for Chawama Ward two and I was voted into office in 2016 under the Patriotic Front party.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO JOIN POLITICS?

I was born and raised in Chawama and started my business here, so I thought I should offer my services to my people.

Before 2016, I was in the political background I was always patriotic so in 2016 I just jumped into a wagon to give service to the people.

WHAT HAVE YOU ACHIEVED SO FAR?

Chawama Ward Two has had the challenges of cholera for a long time now, it has always been the genesis of cholera so I looked at the causes of this and what should be done.

When I entered office we had heaps on garbage, and if you remember and we also had skip bins my concern was to remove skip bins.

When I was in the health committee we proposed that we abolish skip bins and we introduced Community-Based Enterprises (CBEs) that we would be engaged to collect garbage and dump it at Chunga dumpsite.

This meant that communities would register with these CBEs and I as I am talking there is no garbage around Chawama area.

There was also an issue of having no toilets in the market, so we used Ward development fund for 2017 and built a modern ablution block at Chawama main market so now we have a modern toilet at the market apart from that, we also had a situation where people were using toilets at Chawama Clinic so we constructed toilets near the ground.

The other challenges we have been facing is the issue of drainages, though it was a challenge due to the stones underground, but we managed to build a drainage from the Anglican  church to Jesus the King and another one from Twatasha Basic School to Kuomboka hence the issue of cholera is a thing of the past.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING IN THE WARD?

The major challenge that we face is the issue of encroachment. You find people encroaching on road reserve so when you want to expand the road it becomes a challenge.

Some people have also extended their houses and wall fences in undesignated areas without consulting the local authorities.

Never the less we have engaging with these and sensitizing them on the importance of planned construction.

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS AS FAR AS POLITICS ARE CONCERNED?

For me it’s up to the people to decide I will not over estimate myself but it will depend on the people’s decision according to what they think about me.

Otherwise I am very happy that together with the people of Chawama Ward Two we are moving and developing the ward.


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