RE-CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BRIDGE EXCITE COMMUNITIES IN MACHINGA

In what can be described as a success story of the empowered and responsive citizenship, members of the community from the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Chamba in Machinga district have demanded a reconstruction of a new Lingoni bridge.

Speaking during the monitoring exercise of the development projects, community representatives said the bridge has been redesigned (reconstructed) following a shoddy work.

“The first bridge collapsed when it was poorly constructed under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). This compelled members of the community to seek an audience with relevant stakeholders, including the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, to demand a new quality bridge which the MP agreed to reconstruct.

We are grateful to Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) for facilitating an interface meeting with the stakeholders which made a resolution for the new bridge to be reconstructed by the MP,” said TA Chamba.

According to TA Chamba, CSAT was building citizens’ voices to demand quality development as well as participate in the implementation of various development projects in the area.

Commenting on the development, Director of Planning Development (DPD) for Machinga district, McPherson Mwakhwawa said community engagement was paramount in project management. Said Mwakhwawa: “We commend CSAT for championing a healthy working relationship between public officers and members of the community because this is yielding positive results.”