Denford Masiya
TellZim Reporter
CHIREDZI – The people of Chiredzi East constituency will remember their Member of Parliament (MP) Denford Masiya as a man who has managed to fight for better education opportunities for their children.
For the past four years, Masiya has overseen the establishment of five schools and two clinics in his constituency.
Although he is certain that he will push for even more schools to be opened in his rural constituency, his people seem to have given him a vote of confidence for the work he is doing to develop his area.
As a businessman-cum-politician, Masiya says he will not rest until the people in Chiredzi East have access to better education and health facilities.
“I have done a lot for the people of Chiredzi East. If you go to my constituency, you will discover that I have managed to improve the road network. I have also built a few dams so that we have water sources for our livestock.
“Education and healthcare are the two issues I am very passionate about because conditions in Chiredzi East are still very far from being perfect although we have done a lot. We have primary and ECD children travelling up to 20 km a day to and from school. Clinics are also very far apart and that is forcing people to travel long distances to access healthcare.
“We have investigated the reasons for poor pass rate and I can tell you that children are walking for very long distances to the nearest schools. Before the end of the term, primary school children would have walked a distance that is equivalent to going Egypt on foot… they are walking for over 100 kms per week,” said Masiya.
Before Masiya’s intervention, on average school children were walking for over 35km to and from the nearest schools on daily basis.
Masiya has however, intervened and helped in the construction of schools such as Mapikule Primary, Musengi Primary, Lisama Primary as well as Chikovo among others.
Two clinics, namely Chibwedziva and Chipinda were also constructed.
Masiya thanked the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church for also assisting in the construction of one school in his constituency.
“It has always been my wish to play a role in improving access to education in my constituency and I am happy I am still working to do more,” said Masiya.local