 |
| Rare sight in Ntchisi, a borehole at Kanyenda Village |
“I can even say that about 500 people
share a borehole here,” said Group Village Headman Kanyenda of Kanyenda Village
in the southern part of Ntchisi District.
He was outlining some development
hurdles people of his area are facing during a meeting with the area's Member
of Parliament. Water scarcity was top of his list.
In a later interview, Kanyenda
stood by his claims and said that he has thirteen chiefs under him, that is
almost thirteen villages and yet, he said, they all share one bore hole.
“We have Kakumba River
as the nearest water source but it only has water during the rainy season,”
said Kanyenda.
 |
| Chilapondwa: Problem is indeed big |
Asked if he is aware of the
development, MP for the area who is also Minister of Agriculture and Food Security,
Ulemu Chilapondwa said he was aware of the problem and said he was trying to try
to address the problem.
“Most of these boreholes were dug
in 2007 under the Integrated Water Development Programme. Most of them are now
defunct and most of them were shallow and thus dried up, I am looking at the
issue to see what can be done,” said Chilapondwa.
 |
| GVH Kanyenda: We have a big water problem |
Standing from Kanyenda School
and looking eastward, it is easy to see the water problem as the nearest
borehole is crammed with about thirty women fighting to fill a bucket.
The
narrow paths leading into villages are also lined with women carrying colourful
buckets of water and wandering in different directions.
