|
My life is in
danger.
There are
people out there to kill me; I am marked for life.....
But who would
believe the gecko...when he says someone wants him dead?
The truth is my
writings have rubbed 'certain members of society' the wrong way. So
someone, hurt by one of my recent articles, has put a price on my
head.
I don't know
which article ruffled whoever it is who is now looking for me on
every wall, crack and ceiling but all I am sure of is that there
have been attempts on the gecko's life.
It is dangerous
for the gecko to show itself freely on the wall these days. How can
I when my life is in danger because only the other day, I escaped a
variety of missiles which included brooms, pillows and, a pack of
condoms.
After ducking
safely into a crack in the wall, I could hear my would-be assassin
curse that, “gecko's are to be killed on sight because they are
squealers.”
But even if my
life is in danger, this won't stop me from commenting on important
issues. Somebody has to do something and the gecko is trying to do
just that.
Take the roads
for instance, what is happening out there is a scandal. A big one.
There is an
established road network of 67,000 kilometrea of various classes of
gazetted roads in Zambia but these lack maintenance.
Perhaps there
are just too many players involved in road maintenance in this
country. The council has its share of roads to look after, so does
the Ministry of Works and Supply and the Ministry of Tourism.
You can't say
the council has done its part to the satisfaction of motorists and
neither can the same be said of either the Ministry of Works or
Tourism.
For the
Ministry of Tourism, you only have to take a drive to one of the 19
national parks to see the state in which many of these roads are.
And can you
imagine that while the country is busy talking about the 'Visit
Zambia Campaign' the roads hardly get any attention.
Does someone
expect tourists or visitors to these places to fly in and out
without taking a drive around the countryside.
Livingstone,
the tourist capital and "Home of the Mighty Victoria Falls" is not a
good example of what the road network should be like.
There is too
much talk and less action on the roads. Lip service will not correct
the situation.
The Ministry of
Works and Supply has also come short of expectation.
Trunk roads
which cost this country billions of Kwacha to build are not guarded.
Overloading is choking and killing the roads.
Many countries
today have taken measures to safe-guard major roads linking towns
and countries. These roads need protection and the only measures
which can ensure this are toll-gates, weigh-bridges and levies
imposed on overloaded trucks.
Zambia has all
these things in place......but then, it is the corruption.
Oh yes, the
corruption!
Those entrusted
to collect these monies are pocketing funds which may help in repair
and general maintenance.
The gecko has
found out that just as the cops do it at the roadblock, revenue
collectors at border points, overloaded trucks drive through by
parting with a tip.
A mere tip…
That's a sham,
that roads which cost colossal amounts to put up should be eroded
because someone wants to make a quick buck.
No wonder many
of our roads are in the state they are in. Every year billions of
kwacha are spent working or re-working on the same roads, instead of
coming up with new ones.
And when you
think that these roads which are the engine of every economy are
being laid to waste for a few kwacha's, you shudder at what the
future holds.
How can you
talk about flying when you cannot even put the road network in
place. Take the township roads for example, there not there.
Tarred roads
came with independence but over the years the only road to talk
about is the road that leads to the main bus stop.
Promises have
been made in this land of the, "legendary walking safari" and 1991
was a good point in time, with the fancy adverts on how the roads
would be improved.
But you all
know by now what happened afterwards.
Today the roads
are in a mess, you pay fuel levy and wonder where the money goes.
Fuel levy was a
good idea.
Before its
introduction road maintenance was funded from general tax revenue
but since roads had to compete for funds with other sectors like
health and education, the roads suffered.
So a road user
tariff in the form of fuel levy was introduced in 1993, people
thought the problems of road maintenance were over.
They were
wrong.
The gecko has
been in the offices of the National Roads Board Agency which awards
contracts and has seen and heard what goes on there.
Phew!
If the gecko
was to tell on all that goes on at the Agency, it would explain why
you guys have roads which only last until the rains start and
contractors whose middle names are 'shoddy jobs'.
That place, I
mean the roads agency, needs a clean-up.
Total clean-up.
As for farmers,
especially in rural areas, my heart bleeds when I imagine that they
have to contend with feeder roads that are only passable before the
rains.
What is your
priority?
With the
current deplorable state of some roads, it does not make economic
sense to push your bus or truck into these areas where you are
guaranteed of coming back with no shock absorbers.
This is the
gecko's thoughts on roads in this country and if this article will
put my life in danger - then it will have been worth it.
|
December
2005