GOVERNMENT FAIL TO UTILIZE SAKHUTA AND MWALA WA MANJA HISTORICAL CENTRE.

GOVERNMENT FAIL TO UTILIZE SAKHUTA AND MWALA WA MANJA HISTORICAL CENTRE. By Luciano Milala- Mchinji People of Kazyozyo, which is in the area of sub traditional authority Kazyozyo in m Mchinji district have bemoaned government’s failure to utilize Sakhuta and Mwala wa Manja tourism and culture centre. Sakhuta is one of the historical places in Mchinji where a lot of akafulas were killed because of disagreements between the Chewa people and them. Akafula were the indigenous short people who according to History hailed from Zaire and were the first tribe in Nyasaland. The Akafulas were also known as“ Amwandionera pati” ,which in English means, where have you seen me. The war between Akafulas and Chewas, took place between 1800 to 1900 . According to Mr. Thomasi Kafera of the area said if the government started extracting history of the area that could have contributed to the develop of the area and Malawi as a whole. But it seems government focuses on their area were the president or minister comes from. “May be if this area was where the minister of tourism and culture came from they would see the importance of rehabilitating the place and market the place to other tourism companies for the people to see the historical place”, Thomasi Kafera said. Kafera also asked government to start working on some historical sites if the government is to promote tourism sector that also boosts the economy of the country. Kafera said, “ there are a lot of young people who are not employed but if the government rehabilitates the two historical sites, some of them can be employed because those tourism companies might come and employ some of them into their companies”. Sub traditional authority Kazyozyo said he was surprised why the government was so biased when it comes to developing tourism infrastructures. “Most of these developmental projects concerning tourism go to the southern region, we are not saying it’s bad but government must consider promoting the same in some regions like here in Mchinji” Kazyozyo said. Sub traditional authority Kazyozyo further said , “ Mchinji being a border district there is a need to develop the district so that people who enter into the country through Mwami boarder, before doing anything, should first visit these areas and appreciate the historical issues surrounding these areas. By so doing the country can generate more forex from Mwala wa manja and Sakhuta. There is lack of seriousness by the government”. On what they are expecting from these two site sub traditional authority Kazyozyo said, they are expecting some of the companies who can take charge of these two historical centers to boost economy and development of his area. “We are expecting these tourism organization to promote education by constructing schools blocks because they will realize the need to take some of the social responsibility in promoting some of the development in my area”, sub traditional Kazyozyo said. According to National Association for Small and Medium Enterprise [ Nasme] Executive Director Mr. William Mwale said the country is losing a lot because of reckless in things that can help to develop the economy of these country. Mwale was shocked, “as you can see I was ignorant about black granite from Kazyozyo but I was shocked to hear that I was from the best black granite area”. NASME Executive Director further said most developmental activities in the country are falling to complete because government has no funds, the country economy rely on the donors. “when you ask the government to bring development to the area the government is good by saying they don’t have money yet they have resources that can bring monies.” Said Mwale. National Association for Small and Medium Enterprise Executive Director further said there is a number of areas that can attract tourists in Mchinji. He said one of them is at Chiosya where there is a tree which is over 200 years old but the problem is that government is not pro-active in making noise of that as part of a tourism attraction. Joe`s Motel Executive Director Miss. Mariarosa Chilemba said they are ready to work with government for the tourists to see Mwala wa Manja and Sakhuta Tourist centres. “as Joe`s Motel we can built even our Hotel there but only when government shows commitment by constructing good road to Kazyozyo .” Mariarosa Chilemba said. She { Mariarosa } further said one of the things which tourist want to know before going to an area is condition of the road. “ if the road like the one at going to Kazyozyo is in bad shape , it’s difficult for the tourist to go to Kazyozyo because they can get tired while they are on the way to the tourist centre.” Mariarosa said. Chilemba further said they can develop any tourism attraction centre as far as they can be consulted to do so. Mariarosa also said currently they have plans to introduce tour guide in Mchinji so that people from outside the country can see Mchinji and tourism attraction centres through their company. But ministry of Tourism and culture said there are still searching for such places ( Sakhuta and Mwala wa Manja ) in order to develop them so that they can be of tourism attraction. According to Director of Culture at the ministry of Tourism and Culture, Dr. Elizaberth Gomani , their ministry is only aware about the tree which is over 200 years old which is at Chiosya and her ministry visited the place. Dr. Gomani said , “ the plans are there to develop the place but for Kazyozyo the ministry is not aware about the place and they will visit the place very soon in order to come up with proper mechanism of developing the place.” On how much money the ministry is losing because of not utilizing such cultural places, Dr. Gomani said , “It is difficult for the government to estimate how much money the government is losing ”. She however said, “ plans are there to develop some places for instance in Karonga the ministry has already built a museum where people can go and see the history of the district.” Sakhuta is one of the historical place where akafula were killing the chewa people and if put in good use many people including people from outside Malawi can visit the place.