Chipinge West Constituency
Chipinge West is found in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe and is located along the Save Valley. It covers mainly Chipangayi, Tanganda and Ngaone areas. The constituency has mainly a peasantry background with most of the people making a living through agricultural production. It has a voter population of 21 218 with 43 polling stations in 6 wards. Chipinge West constituency is one of the areas that are deemed to have a high level of food insecurity and high rates of malnutrition. The relationship between identity, culture and community development is immeasurable and yet Chipinge West Constituency has been lagging behind as most politicians ignore this connection in most of the constituency development initiatives. It is therefore, important that aspiring political representatives not just passively acknowledge culture, but be mindful of the political imperative of incorporating cultural systems, cultural values and traditions into their development interventions. Chipinge west is one of the most vulnerable communities in the district that have been adversely affected by large-scale investments and more often than not, much of the tension is related to an unequal economic arrangement.
Name: Adam Chimwamurombe (Current MP)
Party: ZANU PF
Adam Chimwamurombe is an engineer cum politician who was born on 10 September 1963 in Kwekwe and his area of interest includes water reticulation and refurbishment. He became involved in politics at an early age when he was an active war collaborator during the last stages of the liberation war. Adam Chimwamurombe was duly elected in 2013 harmonised elections to represent Chipinge West in the National Assembly. He garnered 6717 votes against a strong challenge from Sibonile Nyamudeza of the MDC T who managed to secure 5756 votes. Chimwamurombe strong showing was mostly in wards 1, 3 and 4 where he had 1431, 1276 and 1332 votes respectively. For the 2018 elections, Adam Chimwamurombe won the ZANU PF primary elections.
It baffles most members in the constituency to understand why the area has lagged behind in water provision, food security and various forms of development. With the calibre of Adam Chimwamurombe as the representative of the area, it is a puzzle on how the community very often has failed to adopt strategies that would allow it to be on a path toward the alleviation of poverty. In 2013, the Mutema community celebrated an occasion where more than 200 small scale irrigation banana farmers were set to financially benefit from an arrangement they had with Matanuska. The arrangement were to the effect that the small scale farmers will be provided with inputs, training and even loans to enhance their banana farming. The loans were to be repaid once the farmer had sold his or her produce. This arrangement came at a time when the tomato and bean projects had suffered a huge set back due to the breakdown of the water pump. However, the arrangement was later seen to be skewed in favour of Matanuska and left villagers hapless. For the past five years, the community failed on numerous occasions to get the required representation in an effort to address their concern with Matanuska. In September 2014, Adam Chimwamurombe acknowledged to have received US$24000 through Christian Care meant for the purchasing of the sewing machines in the Constituency and another US$13000 for the grinding mill project in the same constituency but to be set up in Musabayana village. The funding was disbursed under the US Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Programme to enhance community projects. These initiatives are important for community development but have been confined to outside the prying eyes of the community.
The 8th Parliamentary Session is Adam Chimwamurombe’s first dance with constituency representation politics and his performance has not been as satisfactory as has been expected by the community. He is seeking a second mandate from the electorate and is riding on the wave of the new dispensation mantra being churned out by ZANU PF. Adam Chimwamurombe was never visible in the factional fights that were unfolding in ZANU PF especially in 2014 and 2017. In 2014, he was labelled as one of the Dirty Dozens when he attended and received funding from the US Embassy in a way that was viewed to be in violation of the Political Parties Finance Act by his colleagues in ZANU PF. The Political Parties Finance Act prohibits foreign funding and/or even soliciting for foreign funding.
Adam Chimwamurombe will battle it out against Sibonile Nyamudeza (MDC Alliance), Daisy Chateya (People’s Rainbow Coalition), Robert Peter Mhlanga (National Constitutional Assembly) and Lovemore Saungweme (National Patriotic Front).
#MugangaWedu2018
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