KAFUE – 01/06/20
KAFUE UPND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT Miriam Chonya who has just concluded her working visit to Chiawa has bemoaned the lack of adequate preparedness by most schools in the zone to reopen today 1st June, 2020 as per government directive.
Ms Chonya said most schools grants that were received last week were inadequate to cater for the purchasing of COVID preventive products as some schools only received a paltry K 1,277 despite being in need of essential items like thermometers which cost around K2000.
“Most of the schools in the area have not received any masks and have requested parents to purchase masks for the children. However, many parents have indicated that they cannot afford to buy the masks for their children and themselves owing to the high poverty levels in the area. Let the parents however ensure that their children are safe in the school environment. I am disappointed with reports that the District Commissioner stopped the distribution of face masks to schools by well wishers insisting that the donations should be made through his office. This is very unfortunate because we all know that government doesn’t have the capacity to carry out this exercise”, the lawmaker added.
The area Member of Parliament who was on a working visit to Chiawa where she also checked on the Constituency Development Fund supported projects donated handwashing facilities and soap to all the schools in the area, including markets.
She also distributed other materials obtained from the Ministry of Health which included hand sanitizers, liquid soap and a few face masks but bemoaned the meagre allocation to constituencies.
” As Kafue, we were only allocated 36 bottles of hand sanitizer and another 36 of liquid soap; The 500 masks received means each ward could only have 30 masks,” Chonya complained.
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