Who will rescue Birchenough?

Birchenough Bridge, pictured above, is a spectacular structure built years back by Sir Henry Birchenough in the south tip of Buhera South Constituency, Bsc. This area has been lagging behind in development and not much has been done by the local authorities to put the vibrant area on the spotlight. MPs are voted in and out every election time, but none of them have taken the area seriously.

One resident of Gunura speaking on condition of anonymity said, “the problem with anyone voted into power in Bsc is that they always want to feed themselves and those of their ilk first before they can think of the electorate, the people who voted them”. With this kind of attitude he said that it will take time before Buhera South could be uplifted economically. He jokingly said that it was even better to get someone from outside our borders to represent them in Parliament.  

Recently the current MP for the area Hon Naison Nemadziva’s name was dragged into the mud for failing to produce on time a report on how the US$50 000 Constituency Development Funds was spent. One wonders whether it’s incompetence, incapacity or incapability by our MPs to fail to steer the constituency to greater heights, or is simply greediness and lack of political will and leadership failing them.    

Birchenough is a low lying area which receives little to no rainfall and so farming is not the best means of production in Bsc. One would be surprised why the place is not a resort area by virtue of the uniqueness and ingenuity with which the bridge was built, but again politics has not favoured the place since time immemorial.

To the south of Bsc lies Devuli Irrigation Scheme which is currently doing well despite some hiccups here and there, and just some 15kms to the north of Birchenough, there is another Irrigation Scheme that has become a white elephant - Bonda Irrigation Scheme.

This Irrigation Scheme had come as a relief to many in the areas of Gunura, Nechishanyi, Kufakwatenzi, but alas, the unavailability of water due to engine breakdown at Devure River has rendered the scheme an upstart. Proceeds from the sale of farm produce such as tomatoes, beans, vegetables, maize meal, had helped the people around Bonda Irrigation Scheme in many ways; to pay for school fees for their children, to pay for milling fees and generally it had nutritiously benefited their health.    

The question that many ask is whether there was ever a Parliamentary Vote to complete the Murambinda-Birchenough Bridge Road, a Vote to buy the engine that is supposed to supply water to Bonda Irrigation Scheme, a Vote to finish the Rural Electrification Programme from Zvigayo to Gunura Clinic, Gunura Primary and Secondary, Gunura Shopping Centre and to proceed to Nechishanyi and Nemadziva and up to Mudanda Shopping Centre.