NOEL IYOMBWA MATERO Constituency has numerous challenges facing residents and the ward councilors in the area have been kept busy to resolve issues on behalf of people. One of such hard working local government civic leaders is Matero ward 28 councilor, Anne Chinyanta. The Sun caught up with Ms Chinyanta at her home.
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF My name is Anne Blessings Chiyanta.I am councilor for Matero ward 28 in Matero constituencies and I was recently elected in 2016. My term of office comes to an end in 2021. I am the only female councilor in the constituency. I am 39 years old and married to a West African with two children one is eight and the other one is eleven years old.
FOR HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN POLITICS AND WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO JOIN POLITICS?
I was elected in the 2016 general polls. Before that I was just a house wife. Growing up in Emmasdale,I used to see how women carry water and how my fellow pupils used to come to school without shoes so it touched me and I thought I can make a change. I thought I should work hard so that one day I can become a mediator between the government and community. And growing up as an orphan I know what it takes to be vulnerable so I enjoy working with the community to try and uplift their lives.
Our president is supporting us, he is awakening women n in decision making because he is advocating for us and giving us the strength to break through.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS YOU HAVE SCORED IN YOUR WARD In the year 2017 I single handily sourced and empowered women in the ward with women empowerment fund worth l50,000. This was when I realized that we have local products that can empower their lives like Kasama rice. So I started ordering bags of Kasama rice and distributed to women and made use of it and most of them have started other businesses out of these empowerment. We worked on a drainage that has not been worked on since inception now the drainage is stone pitched and water is now flowing freely, we are not experiencing floods anymore. Even in the Emmasdale area it’s the same thing we have worked on the drainages and the issue of flooding is thing of the past. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS YOU INTEND TO BRING IN THE WARD? Am working on a police post and clinic in the ward. These are two major projects we are undertaking, and we have worked on culverts which was a challenged drainages. We are in the process of buying a truck for garbage collection where People in the communities will be paying K20 kwacha for their garbage to be collected from their homes and for those vulnerable households the council will know how to take care of it. We have marked youths and women empowerment programs which will be made available soon because the PF is a pro poor party and aims at improving the lives of the people in the country. Am working a Keep Matero Ward 28 Clean campaign program because we intend to govern our community on our own in terms of keeping the environment clean. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING IN TERMS OF DEVELOPING YOUR WARD? People feel ward councilors or other leaders are supposed to sort out all their personal problems which is not supposed to be the case. And the other challenge is that female leaders are termed as a prostitute in politics. Garbage control is another challenge that am facing in the ward but this will soon be a thing of the past because as I said we intend to buy a truck to be collecting garbage. WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS? Am working hard so that the people can decide on my behalf. So for now we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. It is only God that gives positions.
Remember I won among 11 contestants. So am working hard in my position to leave a legacy so that tomorrow people will be able decide on my behalf.
