By Vincent Gunde
An aspiring Member of Parliament for Dowa North East constituency Pemphero Phiri, says once he is elected into office on the 13th September, 2025 he will investigate the whereabouts of the funds government has been allocating for the construction of Matekenya Rural Hospital in the district.
Phiri said it is sad that for years, Matekenya Rural Hospital was being funded for its construction but some people have been diverting the funds for their own benefit speaking clearly that the people of Matekenya were being taken as a ladder for politicians to advance their political agendas.
He said the area-Matekenya is a neglected side by organizations implementing development projects due to its topography which include impassable roads, and the absence of the hospital is forcing many people to walk long distances to the Dowa District Hospital to access medical services.
He said the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area who is also Minister of Agriculture Sam Dalitso Kawale is on record having promised the people of Matekenya and chiefs that funds are readily available for the construction of Matekenya Hospital, but to this day, the promise has not come to be true.
Memories are still fresh that Matekenya Rural Hospital some years back, appeared on the list of completed projects which were being implemented in the district but visiting the site, there were only drainages, money meant for its construction entered into the crooked pockets.
During the reign of the DPP and Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika in 2015, there were plans to construct the new Dowa District Hospital to replace the old one which was built in 1931, Senior Chief Msakambewa offered for a site at Dzaleka Refugee Camp.
Msakambewa East ward councilor Martin Luka Phiri protested heavily in one of the full council meeting that this will double punishment to the people of Matekenya who already walk long distances to the old Dowa District Hospital.
A Malawi Congress Party (MCP) diehard of Mvera in Dowa district Mr. Rodgers Kamphangala, has thanked Pemphero Phiri for coming up with an initiative of investing money meant for the construction of Matekenya Rural Hospital in the district.
Kamphangala has also asked Phiri to extend the investigations to the M7 Road which run from Dzaleka Refugee Camp to Ntchisi to reach Malomo-Nkhotakota Road where it is alleged that the contractor for this road pocketed K2 billion in advance and government stopped him for delaying the start of the construction project.
He said the M7 Road and Matekenya Rural Hospital are in Dowa district and it has been sad that all chiefs and Members of Parliament for the district have been quiet not putting these projects as priority of the priority projects but praising government for nonsense.
The MCP diehard said it is his prayer that all the incumbent Members of Parliament for Dowa district are ousted from power on the 16th September, 2025 elections for new faces with mindset change ideas to be elected as new Members of Parliament for a change in the district.
“I am appealing to the people of Dowa North East constituency that if you want meaningful development projects in their area, vote for mindset change, power and money have failed to change the area, no second chance to the failures in the district,” he said.
